


Pulling Pigtails

by ramblesandshambles



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: #Caryl, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-16
Updated: 2015-09-20
Packaged: 2018-04-13 10:42:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 17
Words: 29,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4518798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ramblesandshambles/pseuds/ramblesandshambles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Snap shots of Caryl through the years.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Snap shots of Caryl through the years.

Their friendship started when he looked up from the sand box and there was the new girl in the knee high white socks, sitting on the swing. She had a pretty pink dress on, and she wore her curly red hair in pig tails. She was new to the class, it was her first day. He wanted to make friends with her and in true Dixon style he didn't know how to go about it, so he ran at her and pushed her off the swing. Got her on the ground and pulled her pigtail's really, really hard. She screamed at him and he pulled her hair again, then stood there with his finger in his mouth, wondering why she was crying.

 He pushed her so hard she grazed her knees and she was crying her head off with big  tears rolling down her face. He stood there trying to say something, but instead he just put his thumb back in his mouth wondering what he did wrong to make her cry. He didn't want to hurt her, he wanted to make friends with her. All he knew how about how to get a girl's attention was to pull her pig tails. Rick Grimes pulled all the girls' hair all the time and they still liked him, and now he pulled Carol's hair and she was crying. He didn't like to see her cry, but he did like pulling the pig tails .

 

"Daryl Dixon, you help Carol up and hold her hand while the nurse fixes her knees." His teacher only half growled at him - he was only four and was still struggling settling into the kindergarten class. He always came with a dirty face and dirty hair. She would spend time every morning cleaning him up to face his day. Some times his clothes were so bad that she changed his clothes to wash his own in the school washing machine so she sent him home sparkling like a new pin. "This is not how we try to make new friends."

  
"I'm sorry." Daryl stuck a finger out and poked Carol's arm to check if she was ok. Carol held her hand out for Daryl to hold while she went to the nurses office. They walked hand in hand while their friends made noises behind their backs about catching germs and Daryl kept bending over to look at the trail of blood running down her knee. He didn't know why he hurt her badly enough to make her bleed, he just wanted to play with her.

His teacher just shook her head not knowing what to do with him. His upbringing so far hadn't been the best. He didn't have the best role models, \- only yesterday he had knocked Rick Grimes to the ground giving him a wet willie in his ear until Rick wet his pants, and then both boys cried; one because he had wet pants and the other because Rick wouldn't play anymore.

Daryl was struggling to make and keep friends because he didn't have a great roll role model in his parents and his brother was at junior high and generally dragged four year old Daryl to and from kindergarten. His brother was the one who enrolled him in the school when he turned four, showing up with him that first day with his birth certificate and the forms his mother had filled out, and Daryl with his school bag. He had spent the morning in the class with his frightened brother trying to settle him. In the end Merle just stayed until lunch time. He asked the teacher for a note for him to give the teachers at high school to show he wasn't playing hookey from his class. He ran all the way to high school with his note at lunch time hoping to catch lunch before the afternoon. Merle showed up again at the end of the day to pick him up and take him home again. Daryl was always the last child left in class because his brother had to come from  high school.

At the nurses station Daryl was told to hold Carol's hand while they cleaned her knees and put band aids on her knees. He also held her hand the whole time while she cried with big wet rolling tears coming out from under her dark lashes, "I'm sorry", he told her and she sniffed, using her sleeve to wipe her eyes.

It wasn't the first time or the last time Daryl did something to make Carol cry. He just wanted to play with the little girl in the pretty pink dress. He wanted to make her feel better, so he took the gum out of his mouth and offered her half. She took it and offered him a tearful smile as she shoved it in her own mouth. Both of them shared a sly smile hiding the gum they were not allowed at school in their mouths. She wasn't so bad for a girl, Daryl thought, if only she would stop crying. He looked down at his own knees which bore the signs of rough play in the playground. He never cried about much and if it looked bad enough Merle put some cream on them and covered them with plaster strips when he arrived home.

Once her knees had been taken care of he held her hand all the way back to the playground, then left her there standing next to where the little girls were playing. He then ran  off toward the boys on the other side of the playground. The boys all opened up their group letting him in as they all took little peeks at the girls on the other side of the playground. At agefour, girls were strange creatures and no one wanted to sit near them - and Daryl had touched one. They wanted to know if he had girl cooties now. He showed them his hands todemonstrate that he didn't have girl germs on them.

At the end of the school day Daryl's brother picked him up to go home and Carol waved goodbye and pulled her wad of gum out of her mouth, stretching it the length of her arm to show him she still had it in her mouth. Daryl trailed along behind his brother stretching his own bit of gum behind him to show him he still had his half. He waved andran along behind his brother on his little legs as fast as he could.

"What you doing, Daryl, come on we gotta catch the bus!"Merle turned around to catch his little brother waving at a little girl. "Keep away from girls, little brother, they will only get you into trouble." 

"She's got pigtails." Daryl told him. "I pulled them really hard."

"Don't pull them, Daryl... no matter how much you want too, you will end up in trouble."

"What sort of trouble?" Daryl's four year old mind ticked over, as his brother helped him up the steps of the bus and paid for their fare to go home. He didn't really get into trouble with his teacher - she just looked at him with that look on her face she always had when he did something wrong or silly. She would talk him through what he did wrong without raising her voice with the gentle manner she had. He listened to her and tried to behave, but he could see why Rick Grimes liked pulling  pig tails \- it made the girl squeak.

"Girls are nothin' but trouble... just keep away." 

The bus drove off and he pushed his face against the window and watched Carol's mother helping her into a car. She was showing her mother her knees and Daryl sat back on his seat swinging his legs back and forward, looking towards to going back to kindergarten tomorrow. 

"Gonna give you a bath tonight, Daryl - you starting to stink.I'ma wash ya clothes, maybe wash ya hair if you want it?" Merle looked at Daryl, waiting for an answer. The only one throwing Daryl in a bath lately was Merle when he remembered, and they hadn't really told anyone that their parents had been away from the house for nearly a week and fourteen year old Merle was taking care of his brother alone. 

"Ok... " Daryl was pretty compliant to do what he was told by  Merle because he didn't want to be left alone \- after all, there wasn't anyone else about to stay with him. Merle was doing his best and Daryl just followed Merle everywhere. Merle even dragged Daryl along to a girl he was interested in to get her to feed his little brother. Merle was making do  as best he could, with both of them eating at school. In addition to that, Merle was hunting rabbits and other things to feed them. Merle didn't know if he was happy or sad when they walked up the drive to see that their parents were home. He entered the house telling Daryl to keep quiet.

He felt relieved to see it was only their mother cleaning up the house. She hugged her boys and put Daryl straight in the bath and thanked Merle for watching him. Merle knew he didn't have any choice but to watch him. He couldn't very well go to school and leave Daryl home alone while he went to school. Also, if they didn't go to school people would  wonder why they were not presenting at school and might come looking for them.


	2. Chapter 2

 

He run past her while she was hanging upside down on the monkey bar's with two pig tails begging to be pulled. He gave one a hard yank as he run past - almost pulling her from the monkey bar in the process. She climbed off the monkey frame and chased him through the playground pushing him into the mud. She'd gone home for the past two years crying because Daryl Dixon kept pulling her pigtails, her Daddy tried to tell her that that's what boys did when they liked a girl. They would punch them in the arm or pull their hair. He only the night before showed her how to make some moves on Daryl to try make him stop, he showed her how to defend herself if he pulled her pigtails again. Her parents had complained to the school about the pig tail pulling but there was little they could do about it because Daryl always denied doing it and it was really down to Carol's word against Daryl's he was quick enough that no one ever saw him do it.

Two hands in the center of his back pushing him over with all her weight he fell face first into the mud with a bump on his head. She launched herself at him and rolled him over onto his back. She climbed on him to try fight him and they rolled around in the mud until she got one of her knees on his arms and managed to try pin him down. All the time yelling at him that she was going to make him pay for pulling her hair all the time. She opened her mouth to pretend to let drool come out of her mouth into his to give him girl germs. He was squealing and the other kids all run and gathered around them trying to see what was going on in the fight. 

Daryl managed to roll her over so he had her pinned and pulled her pigtail again and laughed. She took the chance and rolled him into the puddle. He was staring up at her still laughing at her not believing that she was trying to fight him for pulling pig  tails.

"If you pull my hair one more time... I'm gonna make you eat this." Carol grabbed a clump of dirt and attempted to push it into his mouth. She was straddling him and pinned his arm's under her knees the way her Dad showed her how to fight him back and tried to pries his mouth open with her fingers to feed the dirt to him. "Open wide Daryl you little shit!"

Daryl moved his head from side to side as Carol rubbed a big handful of mud all over his face. "You like that?" She yelled at him. "Daryl Dixon you're a big worm head with worms in your hair." Carol reached for a half dead worm trying to shove it in his mouth with the dirt.

"Carol, you get off Daryl right this moment!"

They both looked at the playground teacher who pulled Carol off Daryl. Carol aimed a well aimed kick to his shin. Daryl just laughed and moved around as the teacher was holding his arm. She was holding them both at arm's length and frog marched them both inside to try clean them up. Daryl kept sticking his tongue out at her teasing her behind the teachers back. The teacher washed their faces and wiped their clothes telling them that good children didn't fight and make the other eat dirt or worms. Young ladies certainly do not swear. 

Daryl stuck his tongue out at Carol to show that he didn't care what the teacher said and made a hair pulling action with his hands like he was pulling and imaginary pig tail, he moved his head in a jerking motion. Carol launched herself across the small room and landed a small fist to his arm. They rolled around the small room as the nurse and teacher pulled them apart.

"This is not how we behave Carol, I'm afraid I'm going to have to talk to your mother after school." Her teacher told her. For all they knew it was an unprovoked attack by Carol at Daryl as he hadn't said a word and was doing things to annoy Carol behind the teachers back. Carol started to cry and knew her mother would be cross at her, she knew they would try to think of more ways for her to be friends with Daryl and she didn't want her as a friend. Daryl was digging around in his pocket and come out with a rabbit foot.

"I'm sorry." he said handing her the small piece offering. The teacher took them back to class and punished them both by making them sit beside each other for the rest of the afternoon until Carol's mother come. Daryl had gotten away with everything this time. One thing his brother did teach him was to do things behind the teachers back and then deny anything that couldn't be proven. He was keeping his mouth firmly closed.

So at the end of the day Carol was kept back in class and Daryl headed off to meet his sixteen year old brother who was meeting him at the bus stop. Daryl made a hair yanking motion as he left the class and Carol narrowed her eyes wondering how she was going to make him pay the next day for pulling her hair all the time. She was going to have to do something to him that would get him in trouble. While she was waiting for her mother to finish talking with the teacher in the other room she went and found the super glue. She come back to Daryl's desk which was right beside hers and painfully took time to put superglue all around the top of his desk and glued all his pens to the lid of his desk. Tomorrow he wouldn't be able to use a pen at all.

 She found his drink bottle opened it up and saw it was empty, she spat in it a few times, filled it up then put it back with the others. That would teach him for pulling her hair. He would have girl germs by tomorrow. No pens and no one would know it was her. She sat quite smugly waiting for her mother to come collect her and take her home.

On the car road she heard those words she didn't want to hear, "I think it would be quite nice if we invited Daryl over for a play date and maybe you two could smooth things out... he's not going to keep pulling your pig tails if you all are friends."

"We are not friends and I'm gonna give him a hair cut if he pulls my hair next time." Carol crossed her arms and pouted the whole way home. She couldn't believe her ears as she heard her mother ringing to invite Daryl for a play date the following day after school and for dinner. Her life was going to be over when the other girls at school found out that he was going to be coming to her house.

"He can't come to play!" Carol was horrified as much as she could possibly be. The play date could never happen she had to make it so that Daryl didn't want to come and play at her house at all. She had to be mean to Daryl all day tomorrow so he wouldn't want to come to her place and play anyway. 

"I'm sure if you both spent some time together you will get over this silliness you will become the best of friends." Her mother tried to tell her.

"Nooooooo he's gonna give me fleas!" Carol stomped all through the house and went into her room and banged her bedroom door. "He's got cooties!" She yelled from inside her bedroom door. Banging it over and over again as only a six year old little girl could do trying to prove a point.

 

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

Daryl was trying to pull the pens and pencils off his desk when Carol arrived into her class the next morning. She watched as he pulled a tiny pocket knife out of his pocket and set to work trying to lift them off. He was staring at her across the room as she hovered in the doorway. He'd worked out that it had to be her to play a mean trick on him but he hadn't told the teacher and was trying to get the pens off himself.

'Daryl's gotta knife... Daryl's got a knife,' she called out to the teacher to get him into trouble. Daryl closed his pocket knife up quickly so the teacher couldn't see and shoved his pocket knife back in his pocket. He knew it would be taken off him if they knew he had it in his pocket. He had taken it out of his brothers stuff weeks ago and kept it in his pocket using it for all sorts of things. It had so many little gadgets on it it kept him entertained for hours. It wasn't really a good thing a six year old having a pocket knife but so far no one knew he had it until Carol blurted out he had it in the middle of the class.

The teacher come across to see what was going on and looked really surprised to see all Daryl's pens glued to his desk. She asked him if he glued them and he shook his head. He jutted his head towards Carol. Carol stepped back and tried to pretend she didn't know what was going on with it all. Carol didn't meet Daryl's eye because she knew that it would show on her face that she was the one that glued all his stuff down and she didn't want to get into trouble. 

'Did you do this Carol?' Miss Jackie asked her, Carol shook her head looking sorrowful that she might nearly has been caught. Daryl nodded that it was her that did it, he couldn't see who else could have done it, only Carol really wanted to get Daryl back . 'I'll have the knife too please Daryl,' she held her hand out to him and he had no choice but to dig in his pocket to pull the pocket knife out and pass it to his teacher. He threw Carol a dirty look as he handed it to her.

'No... I just got here,' Carol told her.

'Did you do this yesterday?' she prompted.

'Nope!' Carol told her shaking her head, 'It wasn't me, maybe Daryl did it,'

'Well we are all going to have to try get these pens off before class,' since the teacher had taken Daryl's pocket knife and gave him a bread and butter one to try work with. Daryl reached out and pulled Carol's hair which was in a pony tail today with a plait behind the teachers back because he was so annoyed with her.

'I know you did it...' he said and gave her hair a tiny twist as he felt the bumps on her plait.  Carol didn't say anything because he didn't tug it that hard and seemed to be more interested in fiddling with the bumps in the plait. He and Rick Grimes managed to work together to try get the pens off and the teacher made them carry it to the janitors room so it could get sanded down because the glue was all over the lid and there was no way he would be able to use it to sit and write on. Daryl pulled a couple of thumb tacks off the notice board before he left the janitors room and shoved them in the fist of his hand so Rick didn't see. He didn't know what he was going to do with them yet.

Back in class the teacher put them back sharing a desk side by side and had them all put their heads on the desk to listen to some music. The temptation was too much for Daryl as he tried to use the drawing pin to fasten her hair to the desk. Carol had her eyes shut and she had her head facing away from Daryl and the teacher wasn't really watching what they were doing. He pushed the tack through her hair tie at the bottom of her plait. When the teacher told them that they could lift their heads and head out to recess Daryl bolted out the door and Carol lifted her head to find she was stuck at the desk. She burst into tears and the teacher had to unpin her hair.

'I hate him!' Carol told the teacher, 'I do...'

'Awe Carol you and Daryl need to stop all this now, I thought sitting you next to each other might help you become friends. I think he only wants to be your friend,' The teacher was almost at a loss of what to do with Daryl. His mother had died three months back and she didn't want to use that as an excuse but she did know the little boy was starving for human contact. The only person she ever saw having any contact was his older brother who was trying to help his father but he really didn't know what he was doing either with Daryl. Daryl was almost running wild and needed a firm but gentle hand.

'He keeps pulling my hair,'

'I'll talk to him about that again,' Miss Jackie told her and helped her dry her tears and sent her off to play. 

Carol stalked him in the playground. He was smart enough not to be caught alone, he didn't want to have her so mad that her Mama wouldn't let him come play at the end of the day. He really wanted to go to her house because he saw the cookies she brought in her lunch box every day and hoped that he would get a cookie at Carol's house in the afternoon, also there was no one home at his house until Merle got home from his job that he had after school. Carol gave up stalking him and went to play with the girls who didn't know she was taking cootie boys home to play at her house at the end of the day. She didn't want anyone to know because then they would think she liked boys.

She had enormous satisfaction when she watched Daryl drinking down the water out of his water bottle after they come back inside. He and Rick Grimes ran straight to their water bottles and drank them down. She giggled and he watched her wondering why she was laughing at him, she couldn't help herself. 'You are going to get girl germs, I spat in your water!' she told him in a sing song voice not watching his eyes as his drifted to the teacher standing behind her.

'Carol... that is disgusting, why would you do something like that to Daryl,' Miss Jackie asked her, she bent down and pulled Carol's hand and Daryl's so the were both standing in front of her, 'This has to stop, some one is going to get hurt, Daryl if you pull Carol's hair again you going to be going to the principles office, Carol if I catch you gluing or spitting on Daryl's things I will send you to the principles office too.'

'Sorry Miss Jackie,' both children told her. She sent them back to their desk, she didn't know if it was a good thing or bad thing that both were still going to be sitting beside each other. She knew Carol's mother was trying to foster a friendship between them but the little Dixon boy was a wild child and for some reason he only picked on the children that he liked. He really did like Carol and she was going to try foster a friendship between them too.

################# Carol's House##################

'If you watch them they will go back to their nest,' Daryl told Carol. They were outside in her back yard on their tummies watching ants carrying food back to their nest. Both children were filthy. Daryl had noticed one ant crawling past near where they were playing and it quickly had his interest and Carol watched as he started crawling along the ground to follow them to the nest. Carol quickly followed him along the ground both of them trying to figure out how they could find the rest of the ants. Carol never had so much fun crawling around the ground looking for little bugs on the ground with Daryl.

Daryl had also shown Carol how to mix water and dirt to get the mud to stick to her play hut properly. Together they had smeared mud all over the outside of the play hut, Daryl hadn't wanted to go inside it and play with the babies she had in there. He did hold one for her while she made the beds for her dolls. He decided holding a doll would be worth it if he got another cookie for playing nicely with Carol outside. Her mother promised him another one if they went outside and played nicely. So he helped her put the babies to bed then asked her if she wanted to redecorate the play hut. They set to work working smearing mud everywhere and on each other with bursts of laughter.

Carol's mother hadn't looked out the window in the past twenty minutes as both children she could hear in fits of giggles and laughter she just assumed they were fine and not misbehaving.

 Carol was amazed at all the things that Daryl was telling her, he told her to follow him and they headed down the drive and started looking in the gutter. Carol looked at some old chewed up gum and picked it up to show him. Daryl was busy using a stick to see if the worms in the gutter were really dead. He bent down to pick a dried up one. He held it in between his finger and thumb and tried to offer it to Carol like it was a gift. He looked at the dried chewing gum.

'My brother says that you can eat gum off the foot path, see you can scrape it up with a knife and you can eat all sorts of things if you are hungry,' Daryl told her, he pulled some grass up that looked like weeds, 'see you can eat those white bits, cos the cows eat them. Want some?' He held out some grass for her to eat. They both were eating it and Carol had taken the dried worm and put it in her pocket. She was having so much fun she would have followed Daryl anywhere.

They slowly moved further and further down the gutter looking at different things. Both kids needed a good scrubbing and clean clothes.  Soon they were both lying facing each other in the gutter looking down a drain to see what they could see down there. They both had a stick and were poking at the dried leaves and whatever they could see done there. Carol's mother come out of the house calling them back and stood their with her mouth open when she saw the state of them. 'Oh... oh no..... no, ' was all she could get out.

She brought them both inside the house and wondered about getting them showered. She put Daryl in the shower in the main bathroom, she took to him with a cloth and a bar of soap, she washed his hair and even put conditioner in it. He just stood there and let Carol's mother wash all the dirt off. Carol was standing on a bath towel waiting for her turn to be washed down and she giggled when she saw Daryl being wrapped in a towel, Carol's mother put Carol into the shower next. She then set about trying to help Daryl get dried quickly.

She had put Daryl's clothes in the washing machine and started to look through Carol's clothes for something for him to wear that wasn't girlie. She was lucky that she did have some jean's and a black tee shirt for him to wear that was unisex. She had no little boy underwear though. She found a plain pair of black boy leg type underwear and figured if she didn't tell him it was girls he wouldn't know. She gave them to him and told him to get dressed. She told him when he was ready that she would give them something to eat down stairs. 

Daryl was scrubbed like a new pin, he looked like a different boy to the one she'd picked up after school. She made a small note to herself to pick up some little boy clothes if Carol and Daryl were going to be friends and end up rotten that they would have something for him to change into. She soon had both Carol and Daryl sitting at the table looking exhausted she gave them both dinner. Merle showed up after dinner to pick Daryl up and he was handed a pile of clean washed clothes for Daryl.

'Thanks...' Merle looked at the folded clothes that smelt nice and his clean brother who looked extremely relaxed. 'Um my Pa's away at the moment, do you think you could have Daryl tomorrow? I've got a few extra hours at work?' Merle pushed his luck wondering if the nice family would look after Daryl again tomorrow being Saturday. It was just his Dad now that their Mom had died and god knew where their father was right now.

'I'm sure that would be fine, maybe you could pack a change of clothes for him,' Carol's mother asked him.

'He doesn't really have much... our Mom died and .... We haven't really got much,' Merle admitted, 'I've got to go buy him something,'

'Its ok, I have a friend with a boy a bit older than Daryl I'll ask them if they have something,' She told him. She looked at Daryl half asleep on the couch, 'What time do you have work in the morning?'

'Eight,'

'Tell you what, why don't we just keep him over night and you pick him up after work tomorrow,' 

'Are you sure?' Merle asked.

She nodded and sent Merle across to talk with Daryl. Merle pulled him onto his knee and spoke quietly in his ear, 'You gonna stay at Carol's place, be a good boy and don't cheeky, they will give you dinner and stuff ok... keep you away from Pa, be really good and they might have you every Friday,' Merle told him. Daryl understood, they hated Fridays every Friday their Dad went to the bar and they had no idea what sort of state he would come home in and Merle didn't like leaving Daryl with him on Saturday because anything would set him off. 'Be a good boy,'

'Ok,' Daryl whispered back, he knew that Merle was right and maybe he could stay more at Carol's place if her parents let him if he was good. He would have to stop getting so dirty and remember his please and thank yous. Merle gave him a tight hug, said thank you and left. He didn't tell them his old man would be home the less they knew the better. Carol mother fixed Daryl up in the twin bed in Carol's room and read them a story and turned out the light. Both children were out like a light. She knew Merle had lied to her for whatever reason he didn't want to take his brother home. It was fine with her Daryl was a cute little kid and he and Carol seemed to put their differences aside and there had been no hair pulling at all this afternoon, only giggles and laughter.

 

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter covers the age from 6 to junior high and first crushes.

He made it his mission from the age of six to ten to torment her every day by touching her. He pulled her pigtails every day as soon as she climbed down off the bus and everyday she smacked him back with her book bag. Slowly but surely they become friends, close friends and he would fight anyone else who tried to touch her or pull her hair. Carol had often gone home crying and confused at why Daryl was being mean to her. Her parents had tried to foster a friendship between them but it was clear the first time Daryl come to play after school at the age of six that he needed more than a friend. 

Her parents could see that Daryl's father wasn't interested in his young son and Merle was the only one trying with him. Daryl appeared to be almost running wild and almost unloved and underfed when they first met him. Now chased about by his now twenty year old brother who was trying to work full time and help care for his brother. Daryl's father barely ever made an appearance anywhere and if he did Merle got Daryl out of the way quickly. It was Merle that fronted up for parent interviews and any issues with Daryl at school, the only on going issue was the hair pulling business that he kept doing. He wasn't doing it as hard but every day he gave it a tug as his way of saying hello and every day Carol hit him with her book bag.

Merle asked him to stop it because he was sick of getting called down to school about it all the time. Daryl couldn't help it it was like an addiction. Merle suggested he patted her on the head if he wanted to touch her hair and he even gave Daryl's hair a yank to show him it hurt. It didn't stop him. Carol told him she was going to ask her Mom to cut all her hair off if he didn't stop. He didn't stop but he did stop pulling hard. He did sometimes just reach out and touch it.  

Daryl slowly won Carol's parents hearts when he was barely six years old and he just about always trailed home behind Carol to her house instead of going to his own. Sometimes he would just show up on his own and knock on the door and ask to come in. When Carol's Mom asked who was looking after him he would tell her that Merle was still at work and he was sitting in Merle's truck for an hour and got bored waiting so he just told Merle he was going there. They just opened their door and their hearts to him and bit by bit he stopped knocking and just walked in calling out he was there.

Her mother had started buying his clothes and washing them all. Helping him learn to read and fed him dinner every night. Merle started offering them money to feed him or buy his clothes, Carol's mom reluctantly took it from Merle knowing that it was important for him to pay Daryl's way. Merle kept thanking them for watching Daryl. When she asked where Daryl's dad was one day Merle finally reveled that he had been in jail and was still going to be there for at least another couple of years. Merle unknown to anyone had gone to court to get full custody of his younger brother and raise him. He was just struggling to do everything for Daryl and work full time. He was thankful that they were helping him with Daryl.

Carol's mom then made permanent arrangements with Merle to keep Daryl every day until he finished work at five and they would help out when they could. Merle had himself a girlfriend living with him now so she had agreed to watch Daryl on a Saturday if he was working but they both worked until five. So that was what happened. Daryl went with Carol every day after school until they hit junior high. 

Over the years their friendship grew and every lunch time when he didn't bring lunch she walked past putting a packed lunch in front of him on the grass and she run off to her friends. After lunch every single day he would thank her by pulling her hair. She almost come to expect it; almost like his way of saying thank you. He slowly wiggled his way into Carol's family. Carol's mom even had a bed in the spare room with clothes in there for him to wear should he end up staying the night. Slowly but surely Daryl's home life got better as Merle's girlfriend showed him how to clean up after himself and showed Merle how to use a vacum cleaner and wash and fold clothes. She told him that they were not living in a pig pen. Both Dixon boys didn't know how to do all this but they were quick learners and soon Merle actually invited Carol and her parents over for dinner in the little house that they had been living in. 

When they were thirteen Carol told him he was to old to be pulling her hair for attention. She plaited it close to her head so he could no longer get a pull on it. She gave him a glare anytime he come near her with that look on his face like he was  going to do something boyish to her. She gave him a quick pinch to keep him away. They now in junior high. Daryl still spent a great deal of time at her place. Carol's father started keeping an extra special eye on them warning Carol's mother that they were getting to that stage where they would be interested in boys and girls.

Everyone around them knew that they were besties and when they headed into junior high they were separated into different classes and they didn't see each other as much. They had the same lunch break. Daryl often would slide his tray beside her and sit at the same table. He still didn't talk much to anyone else but her and now he'd started hanging out with Rick more and more. A new kid had joined their group called Glenn and the three guys soon started hanging out after school and Daryl started coming over less and less.

Carol's father had a man to man talk with Merle telling him it was time for him to give him the birds and the bee's talk. Merle gave him a half hearten chat about it, blow jobs and oral sex and a bunch of playboys to look at. Told him where the stash of condoms were and told him to use them so not to get a girl pregnant but it left Daryl with more questions than answers. Daryl looked at the mag's he gave him, he flicked through them all turning the magazine sideways and didn't know what was going on with his own body looking at them. His friends had been joking about stiffies and thing but he'd never really knew what they were talking about until now, he had a problem in his pants for a while now especially since he realized Carol was wearing a bra. He'd looked at the other girls at school but his body didn't react to any of them the way it did to hers. She was his best friend and he was perving at her chest all the time when she wasn't looking at her wondering about what it all looked like under her shirt. He put a pillow over over his jeans and hoped it would go down. Merle didn't talk to him about that what to do about it.

He then went to Carol's house and stole the book that he had seen on her book case and spent the rest of the day hiding in his room at Carol's house reading it. Carol's parents always told him they would answer questions but he wasn't sure if they would answer the ones he had because he didn't quite know how to talk about it. He certainly didn't want to talk to her Dad about Carol wearing a bra and his pants. So he asked the boys at school instead, leaving out the Carol's bra bit because he didn't want to be teased. He traded Merle's mags for information from his friends. His friends were surprised he had a stash of condoms and mags given to him by his brother.

He started taking sneaky glances at Carol now he noticed that she had started wearing a bra and he could see the outline of the straps when she wore a tee shirt. He knew she got her period because tampons come flying out of her bag onto the ground one day at school and he bent down to pick them up before anyone else noticed. She'd blushed and thanked him for doing that. He just didn't know the mechanic's of it all. How it all fitted together then he stumbled across a book at school by accident in the library that was about how babies were made. He shoved it in his bag and raced out of the library and took it home to try work it out out. Merle had told him about blow jobs but not about why people actually had sex he had vague idea's but nothing that had true hard evidence on it, he thought it was something to do with babies and they hadn't had their sex ed class yet. He'd given Merle the forms to sign but the class hadn't started yet. 

 Carol would always look for Daryl in the halls and she did it so often that her friends had started calling him her boyfriend. It was a joke to begin with but when she saw him walking down the halls he would catch her eye sometimes and she would feel her face heat up. He would stand quietly beside her while she talked to friends and sometimes he would tug her hair to get her attention. She no longer wore pig tails but she could often feel his hand drifting up her back into the back of her hair while he would wait to ask her something. They only shared one class which was science. They were partners at the desk and often both were in fits of laughter about mistakes they made. One day Carol realized that both of them were smiling and laughing and a light switch went on. She couldn't believe it. She had a crush on Daryl Dixon. Her parents wouldn't let him come over anymore if they found out she was sure.

He still showed up on Friday nights for movie night. He still stayed over on Friday nights because Merle often would go out after work or work too late. Carol's parents didn't mind at all. Carol's parents had just accepted it, and prepared meals accordingly assuming that Daryl would be with them. They were even planning a small family holiday weekend away and invited Daryl with them. They had hired a small cottage by a lake for the long weekend where they could go to the lake. Daryl really wanted to go because he never really been on holiday. Merle warned him to be on his best behavior. He'd noticed he'd started talking about Carol to much and put two and two together figuring out that he had a crush on Carol.

The weekend arrived and Daryl was waiting at the gate for them to pick him up. Carol's mom had his bags packed and they were looking forward to a nice weekend away. Daryl slid into the car beside Carol and said hi to everyone. Merle waved them all goodbye and they headed off for a weekend at the lake. During the ride Daryl rested his arm across the back of the seat and intertwined his fingers in Carol's hair. She shifted slightly and settled back of once enjoying the fact he was rubbing the back of her neck. Her parents were too involved in their own conversations to notice what was going on in the back seat. It was a brave move for him to reach out and touch her nicely in the car with her parents. They kept taking sneaky glances at each other knowing in that one touch that their friendship had moved zones from friendship to crushing on each other. They both were not stupid enough to know that they needed to hide it from her parents. 

 

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

Carol threw her bag on the bed in her room and looked around. She opened her bag and started pulling her swim suit out. She also pulled out a tee shirt because she was becoming self conscious about her body changing. She also knew that Daryl had noticed her body was changing and she had caught him taking sneaky glances at her chest while he thought she didn't notice. He was trying his best to keep eye contact but at the same time she had been taking sneaky glances at his and she'd even noticed he had had a problem in his pants a few times first thing in the morning when he slept over. 

She opened her window and stuck her head out, she laughed when she saw Daryl sticking his head out of his room. She gave him a tiny wave and ducked her head back in her room. She stuck her head out again and gave him a smile.

'Hi,' she called out.

'If we had two can's and a ball of string we could talk to each other,' he told her, she laughed.

'Didn't you pack that?'

'I've a pocket knife,'

Carol's mother come in to have a look around her bedroom. It was a nice wee batch for the weekend and they had a few hours left of sunlight left. She looked at Carol's bed seeing she had made herself at home already. Both Carol and Daryl had sleeping bags to sleep in over the weekend. Carol's Mom put one on Carol's bed. She'd already dropped one off to Daryl in his room and saw him hanging out the window talking to Carol.

'If you two want to go swimming now you can as long as you stay where we can see you,' she told them, she stuck her head out the window and repeated the instructions to Daryl. The deck of the batch wrapped around and they were not far from the water, it would take about one minute to walk there. She was telling them where they could go and where they couldn't. They had planned a small cook out on the lake front tonight to cook marshmallows because neither Daryl or Carol had done that. They got changed into swim suits to go into the lake.

They had a drink and took the snacks that were on offer down to the lake. Daryl grabbed the towels and spread them out on the beach in front of the lake. He looked over his shoulder and saw her Dad keeping an eye on them. He wasn't that used to being watched by them. They usually trusted them together to do all sorts of things in the past few weeks they were keeping an eye on him. Carol and Daryl hadn't spoken a word to each other since they left the batch just taking tiny glances at each other. They sat on their towels looking across the lake. Neither of them that keen to go in just yet. Carol took a tiny stick and started tracing patterns in the sand. They looked at each other then both went onto their hands an knees to muck around in the sand. Daryl used his heels to make a hole for her to gather the sand to make a make shift sand castle. They were on the cust of childhood to young adult and neither knew how to step over that line. They both looked at each other not knowing what to say since the the friendship had shifted in the car.

'You want to go in?' he asked her. They both could swim because Carol's mother had taken them to the swimming pool but never in a lake. There was a pond near Carol's place they went to sometimes when it was hot in summer. Daryl didn't know why they were being so awkward with each other but his tongue was all twisted and he couldn't think of anything to say to her. He normally never stopped telling her stuff or talking to her about nature.

'Dad said this is where we have to bath, he told me to bring the soap,' Carol told him.

'Ok...' Daryl wasn't sure, her Dad said a whole bunch of stuff that often wasn't true or he was playing little tricks on him. Carol shook her head to show it wasn't true. She stood up and pulled off her tee shirt and stepped towards the water. She was wearing shorts over a swim suit. He watched her start to walk into the water. She pulled the hair tie off her wrist and fiddled with her hair pulling it into a pony tail. She glanced over her shoulder at him giving him a look as if she was daring him to pull her hair. Daryl knew that he too would have to go into the water or stand back looking soft while she went in. The lake was clear and they could see the bottom. They walked into the water. It wasn't that bad.

He just started running and run under making a huge splash that he knew would soak her. He rolled onto his back looking at her and she sunk down so she was under the water. She watched him swimming back and forward in front of her.

'That wasn't nice,' she growled and him and he came close behind her, 'You pull my hair I will give you a hair cut while you sleep,' she hissed at him, he gave a half laugh like he wasn't even thinking about it. He reached under the water and grabbed her ankle and pulled her along into the deeper water. She squealed as he towed her until she was on her back. He let her go and she floated up right beside him so she was standing right hard against him as she stood up. She looked at his face and at his lips then quickly stepped back. She saw him looking at her lips and a confused look flashed over his face. He knew he probably should have tried to kiss her but he was too scared to ever try. Plus her Dad was likely to be watching. 

'I'm no going to pull your hair,' he told her, he tried to defuse the situation. She gave him a look like she knew he was going to do it. She could tell when he was trying to resist. It didn't drive her crazy anymore like it used to but he needed to come out with words rather than relying on giving her hair a tug to talk to her. She didn't mind him touching her hair any more because he seemed to need to do it.

'Daryl I know you... lets swim,' she suggested, Daryl cast a tiny glance up to the batch seeing both her parents on  the wrap around deck. They were standing there with drinks in their hands looking down at the lake looking at them. They gave them a wave. Carol and Daryl waved back. 

'Do you want to ...' Daryl started asking her and then he just stopped talking. He was going to ask her if she wanted to ... go steady. Fuck Merle would laugh his arse off if he saw him now. He was chicken shit and he didn't know what to even do about it. He didn't know what to do it wasn't like he didn't know how to talk to her, she been his best friend for years and now suddenly they could string sentences together.

'Do I want to what?' Carol swam around him, he was blushing.

'Doesn't matter,' 

She looked at him again and flashed him a smile. 'Do you think should get out and gather some wood so we can light the fire?'

'Ok,'

They walked out of the water and Carol bent down and wrapped her towel around herself and around her chest. She picked up her tee shirt and pulled it over her wet suit. Daryl knew it was because he glanced at him. He looked away and wrapped a towel around his waist. He pulled on his tee shirt. Threw a glance over his shoulder and he indicated non verbally that he was going to wander up the lake front to pick up some wood. Carol busy herself finding bigger stones to make a  fire pit. Carol walked about away from Daryl finding what she was looking for and Daryl kept coming back with bits of drift wood.

She watched as he dragged a big bit of drift wood down the lake front. Carol walked down to help him drag it back. They worked together until her parents come down with matches, sausages and other things that they could cook on a open fire. Carol's mother sent them back to the house to get changed out of their swim suits and into warm clothes to wear on the lake front as it become dark. They both run up to the house.

'Do you think that's a good idea?' Carol's Dad asked. 'Sending them up there alone, its clear they kinda moved on from friends,'

'I don't think so... they are just good friends,' 

'They are looking at each other like the other is a ice cream I think we going to have a bit of a problem here, I don't think we have hit teenage hormones yet. But that boy... got some idea's about playing games that are not snakes and ladders,' he gave a half laugh, looked at his watch to see how long they had been away and how long he would give them before he went up to the house to check on them. He did trust Daryl at the moment because the poor boy seemed to have no idea what to do with his feeling and that was reassuring for Carol's parents right now. They could cope with hand holding but any more than that they might not be so relaxed about it.

He needn't be worried about what they were doing because they were not even talking to each other. Carol was in her room getting dressed and fluffing with her hair and Daryl was dressed and eating slices of ham out of the fridge. Neither of them were doing anything they shouldn't because neither of them even knew how to even attempt to hold the others hand. Daryl had their jackets tucked under his arm and moved onto cheese slices careful not to take all of everything in the fridge. He was starving. He thought about making a sandwich because Carol was taking so long.

 'Come on Carol... I wanna light the fire,' Daryl called out as he buttered up some bread.

'I'm coming,' she called out. He didn't believe her because she seemed to be taking longer and longer getting ready now.

'Come on, its going to be dark no one is going to see you,' he called out. 

'Give me a minute,' she called out. She was staring at her reflection in the mirror.  

Daryl knocked at her bedroom door and opened it. She looked at him through the mirror. He was stuffing his face looking at her. 'You look good, should we take our sleeping bags? Do you think your Dad will let us sleep on the beach?'

'I don't think so, maybe we can hang out in front of the fire for a while,' Carol told him. She looked like it would be a great idea. She knew they might not be allowed but they might be allowed to stay up watching movies in their sleeping bags in the lounge like they used too. Daryl went and picked up his own sleeping bag, grabbed Carols and reached out to grab her hand to hurry her along before he realized he was holding her hand. He dropped it just as quick as he picked it up. Carol grabbed it back and gave it a squeeze.

'What's going on?' she asked him.

'I don't know... you wanna go ...' Daryl stopped talking and Carol stood there willing him to finish, she nodded.

'Yeah ok... don't tell Dad,' she whispered, she leaned in a kissed his cheek.

'How do you know what I was going to ask?'

'You were going to ask if I wanted to go steady?'

'Yeah... do you want to?'

'Its not going to change anything... we are still besties,' Carol told him. 'We been besties since we were little,'

'We better go down before someone comes up looking for us,' Daryl told her. 'Just one thing,' he leaned in and gave her a tiny peck on the mouth, he pulled back like he had been shot and took off out her door. She heard the main door open as Daryl took off down the beach to help light the fire. She touched her mouth, turned to look in the mirror to see if she looked any different. She now had a boyfriend and had her first kiss. Now she just had to hide it from her parents or they might stop Daryl from spending so much time at their house. 


	6. Chapter 6

Carol stabbed her marshmallow with her pointed stick. Daryl had sharpened it for her so she could stab them easily. They were in their sleeping bags listening to the lapping of the water. It was getting dark. They also were sitting on opposite sides of the fire from each other. The embers were getting low and they had been given a ten minute warning that they would need to come back to the house. Carol's parents had left them with instructions to put the fire out. They had a bucket and they would drown the fire when they headed up to the batch again.

'Its been good,' Carol told him. 'What movie do you want to watch?' 

She watched as Daryl rolled off his log and shuffled around towards her pulling himself along like a Caterpillar to come sit beside her. Carol smiled at his effort. He would have got there a lot faster had he climbed out of his sleeping bag and climbed back into it again. He wriggled up beside her. 

'Hi,' he was breathing heavily.

'You look like a worm,'

'Really?'

He wriggled and sat on the log beside her digging into the bag with the food. He always seemed to be hungry now and was digging about trying to make another smore. Carol watched him working it all out trying to put it together for himself to eat. He took a glance at her as he shoved it in his mouth. 'What?'

'Nothing, but where is it all going?'

'Dunno, Merle says I'm costing him a bomb in food at the moment so maybe its because I'm growing,' Daryl looked at her and then at her lips, 'Are you ... nervous?'

'About...'

'Us?'

'Why... what about us?' Carol was confused, 'Cos we are kinda dating or just doing what we normally do and going to be holding hands?'

'Kissing?' Daryl whispered, 'I don't know how to do it...' he looked embarrassed but she was his best friend and he could admit anything to her. She looked at him again, she looked surprised at his admission that he didn't know how to do it. 

'Kissing... haven't you kissed anyone?' Carol asked him.

'Who would I be kissing? I don't run around kissing girls,' Daryl told her, 'You know all this anyway,' He looked at her like he couldn't believe she might have thought he was out kissing other girls. Truth be told he was scared of girls all sorts of girls except from her. 

'We could try it,' Carol stared at the fire her face was heating up as she suggested kissing practice. He didn't say anything and she gave a tiny giggle. He put his hand on her shoulder and he leaned in. Carol froze like a deer in the headlights and she shut her eyes. She wasn't scared of Daryl but scared of the unknown. She felt his lips briefly touch hers. One two three seconds and then he pulled back. He touched her hand and rubbed his thumb across her wrist.

'That ok?'

'That's nice...' she turned to him and leaned in to try it herself. She put her lips on his. She moved her mouth the way she seen on the tv and then pulled back. She didn't say anything but gave him a tiny smile. Her father called out telling them it was time to come up to make pop corn and watch movies. They rolled up their sleeping bags and she stood by while she watched Daryl dump buckets of water onto the fire. Both of the stood there while they listened to the sizzling. Daryl took a brave chance and put his arm around her and leaned in to try kiss her again. It seemed he was keen on practicing as much as he could. He was gaining confidence every time his lips touched hers.

'Come up now!' Carol's father called out. Carol called back and they headed back up to the house. Settling in separate places, Carol on the couch and Daryl on a chair to watch the movie. Carol kept half a eye on Daryl as they watched the movie. Her mother had gone to bed a while ago. Her dad was trying to stay away. Carol foxed and pretended to be asleep. Her Dad saw her asleep and told Daryl to turn the tv off when he went to bed. Carol would be fine on the couch all night in her sleeping bag. The moment they heard her Dad's snores, Daryl wriggled across the lounge to sit beside her. That's how her parents found them, top and tailing in their bags sound asleep. 

 

 

 


	7. Chapter 7

They spent the rest of the weekend at the batch having a few more tiny kisses. Some hand holding in the car on the way home. When Daryl met Carol outside her house on Monday he didn't look that happy. His eyes were red rimmed and he looked like he hadn't slept. He had a bruise around his wrist and a graze on his face. He looked like he had cleared out his locker and been to school early to do so. She heard Merles car going off up the street.  Her hand went to touch his face to check it for him, he turned his head so she couldn't touch him. 

'Come with me?' he asked her she nodded and followed him wondering what was going on. 

She followed him down the path wondering what was going on.

'We gotta go, Merle's packing us up today and we are shifting away. The old man got out of prison on Friday and he's laid into Merle and had a go at me last night,' Daryl told her. Carol stood there in shock. 'I'ma sorry Carol, I have to go with Merle... he's my guardian,' Merle had freaked out last night his Dad threatened to kill Daryl in his sleep and he wasn't going to let that happen. He just wanted to go and leave his dad to rot and die in the house. He knew they wouldn't take him back to jail, he was already on his own death sentence with cancer and would be departing the world soon enough. He wasn't going to hang around and run him to appointments or have Daryl subjected to on going abuse. Daryl was going to have it different to him.

Daryl had suggested to Merle about staying with Carol's parents. Merle said no, he knew with Daryl being the way he was and if he knew the old man was needing help with anything he would help. That's just the type of kid Daryl was. Instead Merle decided not to tell him and just packed up their stuff to leave until such time he was gone forever. 

'What about... can you stay with us?'

'No ... I want to stay I don't want to go... he's going to find me again at your place and he's a bad prick Carol, they put him in a holding cell over night and he will get out this afternoon,'

He didn't know what to do, Carol had big tears rolling down her face. He stepped up to hug her put his arm's around her and his fingers in her hair. He gave it a tug. 'We gonna stay friends, I promise,'

'But you will forget about us... it won't be like before,'

'I'll write you,'

Carol kept sniffing and crying because she was losing her best friend and she knew he probably wouldn't write to her, he could barely pick up the phone to call her. He struggled sometimes to even talk to her. It was when they were together things just worked out and they loved to be around each other. Carol just kept crying, she kept trying to stop but he couldn't.

'What time?'

'We pretty much packed and we going to stop by your place to tell your Ma and then we go...' Daryl told her. 'We will come back when he's gone or goes back to jail. I can come back when I'm eighteen.'

'Five years?'

'Holidays?'

'Where are you going?' Carol was still holding onto him rubbing his back.

'I don't know... we just going, I'll let you know. You going to school?'

'I'm not going... I'm staying with you until you go,'

'Your folks will be mad,'

'Don't care...' 

He picked up his bag and took her hand and they made a slow walk back up her drive to her back door.  He knew he had to leave her with her mother. He couldn't stand her crying anymore. He'd argued with Merle about leaving but Merle was animate they had to go. His father woke from his stooper and saw Daryl and punched him too. Grabbed his wrists to drag him through the house and Merle managed to help an Daryl rang the police as Merle restrained him. They took him away but really they knew they would release him. Merle didn't want to spend the next five years protecting Daryl when they could just move somewhere away from him. He was qualified and could get a job anywhere. Daryl had four and a half more years at school and it would be all over. 

Merle was working long hours now and he couldn't be at home keeping an eye on the old man supporting him and Daryl. Daryl deserved better than he had growing up. Daryl had cried all night hearing they were moving away he didn't want to lose his best friend. Carol would be upset he knew but he had no choice but to go. He would come back. He promised himself, he'd come back for her.

Two hours later she watched Merle talking with her parents. She was standing off to the side with Daryl. 

'Don't cry,' he hugged her again and gave her hair a tug, 'Don't cry because of me,'

'But I don't want you to go,' her voice was strained, she couldn't understand her feeling and she knew she loved him. Not in a romantic way but because they had known each other for nearly ten years and every day they spent time together. Their new relationship was just starting to take a new step, starting to blossom and now it was snubbed out. He gave her hair another pull and then squeezed her hand.

'It'll be ok, I promise,'

Daryl gave her a quick kiss in front of everyone, hugged her parents who were visibly upset at the news that Daryl was leaving and climbed into the car beside Merle. He put his hands over his face so he didn't have to watch as they drove away from the family he had grown to love. The family that tried to teach him how to grow into a nice young man. Also he didn't want to watch Carol's face as they drove away from the best friend he ever had. He couldn't stop the quiet tears that tried to spill out the sides of his fingers. He kept his face covered the whole way out of town.

'It'll be ok brother, it will work out,' Was all that Merle could say. He gave him a pat on his shoulder as he drove out of town. He had to get Daryl away because he knew his father would start laying into Daryl the same way he used to lay into him and he wanted to protect Daryl from all that. It had to work out. He knew it was going to be tough but Daryl would soon move on and make new friends and together they would be safe. He hoped the old man would be dead soon and they then would be completely free forever. 


	8. Chapter 8

Daryl drove the old pick up out side the old family home. Merle pulled his Harley up the drive. Merle swung his leg off the seat of his bike. The old man was dead. They had their home back. Daryl hadn't told Carol he was coming back they hadn't spoken in months and months. He had just turned eighteen years and he hadn't been back since the day Merle drove them away. The first weeks were the hardest but slowly he tried to fit into the school he was going into and by the time he was fifteen Merle gave up trying to make him go and got him into an apprenticeship instead.

He and Carol had written to each other often and slowly he stopped replying because he didn't like hearing about what she was doing or where she was going without him. The blow came when she told him that the school ball was coming up and a couple of guys had asked her. He knew he had no claim on her and he just stopped replying.

He followed Merle into the house and looked around. It been trashed over the time he'd been away but today it looked clean and smelt great. Merle had organized a team of cleaners to come through the house. It smelt good both brothers stood there looking around. Daryl took his bag he was carrying through to his room tossing it on the bed. It was a double. Merle had organized new beds and the basics. They weren't rolling in money but Daryl had left school and both of them were working. Daryl was just about through an apprenticeship under Merle's guidance.  They both now had jobs lined up where Merle used to work and in six short months Daryl would be qualified. It had surprised the hell out of Merle that he'd been so good at studying.

Daryl was a man now, he didn't look like a teenager, he had tattoo's on his back and muscles down his arms. Merle had kept him out of trouble and now he was nudging legally being an adult. He looked around and started pulling out some clothes to change into. He walked through to the bathroom dropped his clothes that they been travelling in for two days and he was going to take a shower then go visit Carol.

'Daryl you better not be heading out to chase pussy!' Merle banged on the bathroom door.

'Fuck off Merle,' Daryl called back. 

 'How do you even know if she wants to see you? When was the last time you rang her?' Merle called out, he was twenty eight and been raising Daryl for nearly fourteen years now and he felt like he was kicking his baby bird out of the nest so to speak into adulthood. 'You remember that girl is not eighteen yet and keep ya dick in your pants.'

'Fuck you Merle,' Daryl come out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel, 'Can't even shower in peace,'

Merle followed him across to his bedroom. 'So what's your plan?'

'Don't have no plan, just going to go knock on her door and say hi,' Daryl turned his back and started digging for underwear, giving up on actually finding any he just dried himself and pulled on clean jeans deciding to go commando. Merle was still standing there waiting for Daryl to tell him his plan.

'Merle you pervert stop staring,'

'Ya just so handsome Daryl... gonna have to start vetoing the girls at the door... if you knew what to do with a girl,'

'Fuck you,' Daryl pulled on a shirt and his leather jacket. 'Ain't no girls going to be lining up round the block,'

'Only because you ain't never shown no interest, you sure you are even into girls?' Merle taunted him, he got a deadly stare from Daryl.

'Can I use your bike?' he asked Merle.

'Sure sure, going off leaving your old brother alone on our first night,'

'Merle you going to be going to the bar to check the talent like you do every other Saturday night, I'm doing you a favour by taking your bike. You can do your famous window climb or slipping out the front door,' Daryl sat on the bed putting on his boots. He grabbed his wallet and went through to brush his teeth. He was nervous and half expected Carol to slam the door in his face since he hadn't contacted her in so long.

'You going to shave that bit of peach fluff off your chin Daryl?' Merle teased him again.

Daryl just sighed and held his hands out for the keys. Merle gave them to him and gave him a wait up sign, he pulled out a scrap of paper and wrote down the house phone number. He also gave him his own set of keys. 'Just because you are eighteen and a man now doesn't mean I don't want to know where you are. There's a answer phone on, take ya cell phone and let me know if you ain't coming home.... and wrap ya dick if you are taking it out on a little outing.'

'Not staying out, you don't need to keep checking on me,'

'Been checking on you my whole life, humor me. Things might not be the way they were, people change,' Merle told him he handed him a condom that he pulled out of his wallet, Daryl stared at it and after a second for the first time in his life accepted it. His brother offered them to him before but he never took one. Merle just gave him a knowing smile. Daryl just shoved his wallet in his pocket and checked he had his phone. He started to leave and turned back to Merle.

 'I'll send you a text .... alright?'

'Gas it up,' Merle told him. 'Have a good night baby bro.'

Daryl grabbed his helmet and left on Merle's bike to drive over to Carol's parents place.

He was greeted at the door of Carol's parent's place like a long lost son, into a bear hug by her father and her mother clung to him with tears. 

'Oh my you are a man now,' She told him, they tried to feed him. He said he had already eaten it was already dark outside and then they told him Carol had gone out with some friends from school that if he wanted to find her he should go to the burger joint in town. The kids liked to hang out there. He thanked them and agreed to come to dinner tomorrow and bring Merle. They told him they still had his bedroom so if he wanted to stay over tonight he was more than welcome, she would just change the sheets. He thanked them and said that he and Merle organized someone to fix up their old house and he had a brand new bed waiting for him.

'Ok, anytime Daryl you know we still have an open door policy for you.'

'I know, thankyou,' He tossed over his shoulder trying to get out of there so he could go catch Carol. He drove off in the dark to the burger place. He pulled into the car park and noticed a argument going on in the car park. There were some letterman jackets and teenage girls about, he scanned the car park and couldn't see Carol anywhere. He thought he would recognize her straight away. He hoped her parents were right that she would be here and not off with some other guy. He certainly didn't have any high expectations but he did want to spend some time with her to see if he and her still had a connection.

'You just left her there?' A Asian guy was yelling at a big football type player in a letterman jacket, 'Fuck you man, you said you would bring her down.'

'She decided to walk, you know what Carol's like,' the guy said, Daryl's ear's picked up and he walked over. He moved to the fringe of the group.

'All the people in the car's got mixed up you said you had room for her,' Another guy said.

'What can I say... she's walking,' the guy said again.

Daryl recognized Rick Grimes and Glenn Rhee both in letterman jackets arguing with one of their team mates guy.

'What's going on?' He stepped forward. His two old friends recognized him quickly and knew he would blow his top when he found out where Carol was.

Rick reached out and shook his hand. 'We were all up at the look out, we all swapped around cars and Ed here said he'd bring Carol back and we just got here and he left her up there,'

'You left her at the look out, in the dark?' Daryl stepped towards the guy. 'You left a girl out there where anything can happen to her?' Daryl was in utter disbelief of what the hell Carol was even doing around a guy like this.

'Look buddy what I do with my girlfriend is none of your business,'

'She's not your girlfriend,' a dark girl told him. 'She wouldn't touch you with Glenn's dick,'

'Leave my dick out of this,' Glenn hissed at her, 'We got to go find her.... now,' He started to move away with is keys in his hands but Daryl was pushing past him and Daryl was solid muscle now. Glenn grabbed him by the back of his jacket at got towed along back as he tried to pull him back. Rick moved to try get him back also. They didn't know how he felt about Carol now but they knew how he used to feel about her and he wasn't about to stand about listening to someone disrespecting her.

'Well we got to third base tonight,' Ed told him, 'Who the fuck are you anyway? You want sloppy seconds? You are welcome to her, she's been through half the football team,'

Daryl clenched his fist to punch him out and Rick grabbed his arm and dragged him away. They heard a huge slap as the chick with dreads started slapping Ed around the head. A brunette chick pulled her away.

'Forget him, we got to go find her,' Rick told him, 'You come back? Wow, how are you? ;You are huge,'

'I'm gonna kill that son of a bitch,' Daryl hissed as Glenn and Rick physically pushed him back. The girl with dreads come running up.

'How we doing this?' she asked Rick.

'I'm going in  my car, Daryl.... this is Michonne,' Rick quickly introduced them.

Daryl nodded to her and Michonne's eyes went wide like she knew who he was. They all left to go looking for her. Daryl lead the way going faster than he should of on Merle's bike. He was looking from side to side hoping to spot her. He hoped she stuck to the main road if she decided to walk. It was creepy out and really really dark. He knew she really wasn't a fan of being in the pitch black. There were no star's or moon and he felt sick to his stomach that that creep didn't bring her back down and that the others didn't realize.

He was nearly at the top of the look out when he saw a lonely figure walking down the side of the road, she was using her phone like a torch. His heart stopped beating when he saw her wet face. He hated it when she cried. Even if they didn't come she was trying to get home. She must have walked a mile from what he could tell.  Daryl pulled his bike up about five feet away from her. He climbed off and pulled off his helmet. She stopped walking wondering who it was and were they going to try and do something to her. She had a stance like she was willing to fight him if things went bad. She saw his face and knew who he was. He'd changed heaps but she would never ever forget his face.

'Daryl?' She sobbed running the last few feet body slamming him. He held her close and kissed her hair. Holding her with his feet in a widen stance. He could see the others had pulled up behind him. He didn't care that they saw them. He had tears too, he'd been waiting five years to see her again. He tried to swallow. She was blubbering all over his jacket.

'Are you ok?'

'Yeah... he wanted to make out... I didn't want to and when I said no he told me to walk,' She sniffed, 'And its so dark and scary,' She grabbed his hand and looked at it. 'I can't believe you come back, I've missed you so much.... It was never the same,'

'Shush, I got ya... told ya I'd come back,' He turned her to walk her back to Rick's car. She was shaking with fright and freezing cold. 'Go with Rick I'll meet you back down the bottom,'

'But...' Carol tried to say. She couldn't believe he was there holding her. He said he would come back, she didn't know if he would or not. But here he was. He was older than her eighteen now. Holding him he was huge now. His big strong arms around her she just wanted to stay in them forever. She tilted her head up to look at him, he looked down and sighed. He tucked her head under his chin and tried to gather himself. He had a good mind to go beat the shit out of Ed but he also wanted to keep holding Carol now he knew she was ok.

'I'm going to be right behind you ok.... I'm not going anywhere. I can stay at your folks place whatever you want. We can talk all night if you want to.' Daryl told her. 'Just get in the car, I don't have another helmet'

'Ok,' Carol sniffed. He managed to get her into the back of the car, he gave her hair a playful tug when she looked at him with her blue eyes. He pushed her over so she was  beside Michonne who wrapped her in a bear hug. Daryl had a quick word telling him to take her home and he would follow. His first night back and already he was going for a sleep over with his old best friend, she was more adorable than he remembered. He must remember to flick Merle a text. He kick started the bike and followed Rick Grimes down the hill to Carol's.

He pulled back as he watched Rick take a left towards Carol's Daryl took the right to go back to the burger joint. He parked his bike and looked around. He took off his helmet and left it on the seat. The noise calmed down as he walked inside, people were looking at him wondering who he was. He spotted who he was looking for and he strolled through the tables. Ed didn't know what hit him when Daryl dragged him from his seat and shoved him into a nearby wall. He held his hand up in a warning for his friends to keep away. Not many of them liked Ed anyway and all were moving closer to see the leather clad biker knock his teeth down his throat. They heard what he did to Carol but he also was the captain of the football team. The team was divided on what they should do to Ed now. A couple of the guys wanted to tell the coach and most of them agreed that they didn't know if Carol was ok or not. So they were going to tell on him. 

'You touch her or go near her again. You will be the sorriest son of a bitch alive,' he hissed at him, he put pressure on his wrist and had his elbow pinning him. 'I'll make it so your next round of third base is with a guy called Bobby in prison you got it, don't fuck with me.... don't fuck with her... I hear you touched any girl in the school or even looked in their direction I will know,' He pulled his fist back and went to punch him. He stopped an inch from his nose knowing he would now  be classed as an adult and he didn't want to spend the night in jail for assaulting Ed because he wanted to see Carol.

'Nothing to see here,' he told everyone who was watching. He walked out of the burger joint got on his bike and drove to Carols.

'Who the fuck was that?' Ed asked.

'Daryl Dixon, Carol's childhood sweetheart, he won't let anyone fuck with his Carol. He's all grown up, he's so dreamy now,' a blonde offered him. Ed stormed out hoping to catch Daryl in the car park but he was gone.

 

 

 

 


	9. Chapter 9

Rick and Glenn's car's were parked on the street. Daryl pulled right up the drive parking Merles bike near the back door out of sight. He'd stopped by the service station to fill up the tank and gather some snacks to eat. He tapped on the back door and walked in dumping the bag of food on the kitchen table. Carol's parents had just heard the story of what Ed did to Carol. The rumor grape vine had worked quickly with one of the girls at the burger joint ringing Michonne telling her that Daryl Dixon walked in and hauled Ed out of his seat - threatened him with a guy from prison named Bobby to be his bed pal.

Her parents were fuming and were talking about speaking to Ed's parents, but Carol waved them away telling them that it all worked out ok in the end, she just wanted to forget it. Daryl leaned back against the kitchen counter listening to what everyone was saying. Ed needed to be taught a lesson and had been harassing Carol for a while by the sounds of things.

He shrugged off his jacket and put it over the back of a chair. He moved about to make some coffee in the kitchen he remembered. He'd never made coffee here but he knew where everything was kept. He saw his old friends looking at him, he knew they were looking at the tattoo's running down his arms and the tell tail one sticking out the top of his tee shirt. His tee shirt was on the tight side. He heard a low whistle which went he looked over his shoulder come from Glenn's girlfriend. Glenn's nudging her gave it away.

'Wow Daryl... you been working out?' Rick asked him.

'Nah... working, I suppose Merle had some weights about there wasn't much else to do,' Daryl told them.

'So are you coming to school?' They were in their final year and had a few months left. He saw Carol had an expectant look on her face. He shook his head.

'Done with school. Finish my apprenticeship in a few months,' he told them.

'So you will be qualified?' Carol's father asked him. He looked shocked. 'How did that work?'

'I dropped out of school when I was fifteen, went to night school, and a half trade school and on the job apprenticeship with Merle. All I have left is to do my hours,' He told everyone. 'Got a full time job in town at Axel's, and then I'm done.' He looked around them and saw they all looked surprised he wasn't in school. 'I'm good, we had to look after ourselves and I got everything I needed going to night school.'

'You don't go to school at all Daryl?' Carol's mother asked him.

'No. I go to work, it ain't no big deal, I go to work I get paid and I buy food, been paying my own way since I was fifteen,' he told her.

Carol's mom looked sad, 'but your childhood, you missed out on things like prom and going to games because you had to work...'

'You finish high school?' Carol's Dad asked him. 'You need to finish high school.'

'Do I look like I had a deprived childhood, my time here was the happiest I ever was. No one can take that away. Merle did what he could, taught me to be a man and now I'm eighteen I don't need to be at school I'm a lot better off than these two.' He gestured to Rick and Glenn, he then looked at Carol, "I'm traded up, I can go to college later if I want to. Right now I just want to hang out and make friends again. I actually give no fucks what everyone thinks about what I am doing and if you don't like it you know what you can do about it. I come here to see Carol and if me having a full time job, finished high school via night school and a few tat's are putting everyone off I'll just go alright!' 

Everyone looked at him, he looked pissed and he grabbed his jacket and walked out the door. He pulled his jacket on and pulled his smokes out of his pocket.  He took the three steps down the back to the drive way. He walked past the motor bike the old him would have just gone but he needed to calm down and let it all sink in that he had people worried about him again. He didn't want to run off leaving the people that did worry about him upset.  He puffed on his smoke, anther dirty habit he picked up from Merle along with dropping the F bomb in the kitchen. Fuck it he lost his cool because everyone was looking at him. He walked around the yard. The old play hut was there. It needed pulling down but he still remembered the first time coming to play in it with Carol. That day changed him, changed his whole life. He heard the back door open and the soft foot fall.

'Daryl... come back inside, they didn't mean to put you down,' Carol called out to him she could see where he was with the glow of his smoke she walked across to him. 'Daryl they were just surprised. We all are, you been away so long and they just want whats best for you, no one's judging you here. I'm not judging you,'

'I just wanted to come and see you... been thinking about it forever and all everyone wants.... forget it.' Daryl mumbled. 'I just wanted to come see you... don't send me away... please,'

she walked to him and put her hand on his arm, brushed his hair off his face, 'You are so different now, you look... you look like you are twenty something,' she mused softly. 

'That's not a bad thing, I don't get carded when I buy beer or go to the pub,' he told her, then he quickly shut his mouth. She looked surprised, she took him all in, the way he looked now. He did look older than his eighteen years, she really didn't know if he wanted more from her than she was ready for.

'I'm sure there's lots for us to catch up on... do you want to come back inside?' she asked him. He dropped his smoke and ground it out with his foot.

'No,' he took her elbow and pulled her to him. 'This ok?' she nodded he bent his head a brushed his mouth softly against hers. Carol opened her mouth and let him kiss her thoroughly, the kiss had been a long time coming and something that she had been thinking about for a long time. Every night she thought about him. Not a day had gone by that she didn't wonder about what it would be like to be with him. He was the reason she never dated anyone, her plan was for him to be her first. She hadn't even really looked at another guy, she just been waiting her time until he come back like she knew he would.

She let him back her up against the old play hut that creaked as their bodies leaned against her. She tucked her hands up the back of his leather jacket. He kissed her deeply and run his hand up and down her back. 'There isn't been a day gone by... I ain't thought about doing this,' he dipped his head again pulling her close, he wanted to do things that didn't normally cross his mind. For the past three years he'd been working hard so that when he did come back she would be proud of him. Right now he also was a little scared her Daddy might come outside and find him with Carol pressed up against the play hut.

She pulled back and looked at him, 'Do you have a girlfriend?'

'No... I haven't... look last time I kissed a girl was when I was thirteen,' he admitted.

'Really?'

'You?'

'I kissed Glenn.... It was a dare,' she admitted, 'I haven't really been dating, just hanging out with friends.'

'Glenn Rhee? Do I need to kick his arse?'

'No... Maggie already did,' Carol wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his face back down again. 'You aren't afraid to kiss anymore,'

'Cos I'm a man now....' he left that comment there and he knew she could feel it against her thigh, he had to push away from her before he found himself wanting to do more than to kiss her. 'Come on... we better go back in before they come out looking,' he cursed himself for not wearing underwear and walked beside her with his arm around her. He stopped outside the back door, 'Look I know we can't go back to what we were before but I'm hoping we can be more than friends... once we get to know each other again?'

She looked at him and into his eyes, 'Ok... but ... I'm kinda already going steady with someone,'

Daryl's heart dropped at her words.

She gave him a sly grin, nudged him, 'I don't believe you ever dumped me... so I guess we been going steady for five years now,'

'Yeah but you cheated then...' Daryl gave her a look. 'Glenn,'

'Oh that was a dare... I don't back down from a dare and he a sloppy kisser like all tongue... don't tell Maggie but it was like seven minutes with a golden retriever.' she told him.

'seven minutes?' Daryl was confused.

'Its a game... you spend seven minutes in a wardrobe... do you really want to do this right now?'

'You spent seven minutes in a wardrobe with Glenn?'

'Daryl... don't be jealous... I was just trying to make Maggie realize she liked Glenn. And we were in there for two minutes and she flung the door open.' Carol told him. 

Daryl groaned and kissed her again and followed her back into the house. Carol's parent's were trying to apologize to him he waved it away and said he was sorry he over reacted. Carol's parents left the teen's to it in the lounge to watch a movie and then they could ever ring a parent and stay or go home. She wanted them all to check in with their parents before settling in with Carol and Daryl to stay the night.

'I assume you don't have to ring anyone,' Carol's father said.

'Nah... I will text Merle let him know where I am.' He pulled out his phone and flicked off the text. He then settled down with a sandwich and a bowl of chips and a drink with Carol at his side to fall asleep to a chick flick with the other two couples.

 


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So I didn't think Carol's parents were going to be that involved in this fic the first two chapters so anyway I'm going to have to name them I think. So lets call them.... Mike and Molly. (I'm also putting them in their mid 40's) Yeah I know I'm watching tv right now. But hey.

Carol's parents were lying in there bed upstairs listening to the chatter of the teenagers in the house. They heard the giggles coming from Carol a sound that they never heard in a long time. They had heard tears night after night and for an extremely long time they had the plain face where she showed little or no excitement about anything. Tonight she come home beaming from ear to ear even though something bad went by. 

'Am I gonna have to have a chat with him,' Mike asked his wife.

'No...'  Molly told him, 'I think she's a good girl, Daryl's a nice boy.'

'He isn't a boy Molly... he's got bigger arm muscles than me,' Mike sighed and rolled onto his back. 'And tattoo's, money, a job... his own house with no one watching over him.'

'He's got Merle.'

'But he can come and go as he pleases.' Mike was conflicted. 'She's still at high school and he's working. He been away doing god knows what for years, he might have more interests than just going out for burgers.'

'Mike... I don't want to think about that I'll talk to Carol tomorrow,' Molly rolled to cuddle into her husband. 'I don't think that we can tell them what they can and can't do, he's eighteen and she's going to be eighteen soon. They are old enough to make their own decisions about their lives I guess we are lucky we didn't have to deal with this at sixteen or fifteen,'

'He's only been back one night, why are we worried about them.... doing that?' Mike groaned.

'Well the way he looked at her... and the way she looked at him, the tension in the  air,' Molly whispered, 'You remember what it was like when you were eighteen, I was only seventeen and my Dad chased you when he saw you feeling me up in your car.'

'Molly he was waving a car iron,' Mike whispered Molly giggle. 'Doesn't matter when we did it we  been dating a long time.'

'They known each other a long time, she trusts him, they will work it out and he won't hurt her,' Molly told him, 'I know you believe in soul mates... we met at thirteen and you told me you knew,'

'You're not helping...' Mike told her, 'She's my daughter, its different when its your kid.'

'I know, I'm worried too but I think we need to talk to them like they are adults.'

She was worried that Daryl seemed to be more mature than Rick and Glenn. Daryl had a hard look about him and working man's hands it was hard to believe he was only eighteen. To be honest she was worried about leaving Carol alone downstairs with Daryl because of the way he looked now. He gave off a badboy vibe and had a type of sex appeal that most girls were attracted too. He drove in on a Harley and wore a leather jacket that fitted over shoulders that were massive. She didn't know how big he was now but she would have no idea of what size clothes he wore now, but you would have to buy pretty large to fit those shoulders in.

'I'll talk to her, you talk to him,' Molly told him.

'So I get the moody half man - half teenager?' Mike mumbled.

'Unless you want to have a don't have sex talk with your daughter you take him I'll take her,'

Mike didn't want anything to do with talking to Carol about sex. It was bad enough that the other week he had to do a tampon run for all the women in the house with chocolate and chips. He was quite happy to sit the sex talk or birth control talk out.

############################################

 'You ok?' Daryl looked down, somehow Carol had wedged herself between his legs, she was lying right back onto his chest and if she kept moving like she was he was going to end up with a problem in his pants. He stroked her hair out of his way, she half turned her head to look at him. She kept doing that to check he was still there. His other arm was wrapped around her and they were holding hands in front of her stomach. He kept watching her and leaned in to catch her lips. He didn't think he would like kissing but Carol's lips was very inviting.

He looked around the room. Michonne and Rick had disappeared underneath the dinning room table and there were a few soft moans coming from under there. Glenn and his girlfriend were making out on the lazy boy. Maggie was straddling his lap and he doubted that they had seen any of the movie. They didn't seem to be interested in anything that Carol and Daryl seemed to be doing. Both his old friends seemed pretty confident with their girlfriends he had no doubt they were all going all the way. Apart from the fact that he'd been told as much in a whisper by Carol when he turned his head towards the kitchen table that was rocking. He was glad there was a table cloth over the top so he didn't have to see Rick's naked arse staring up at him.

Carol kept looking at him and she half rolled then rolled right onto her front to kiss him. He wriggled down so she was lying right on his front. They both tentatively explored each other over their clothes. Daryl had a full high school experience of making out with his high school girlfriend on the couch in her parents house. He didn't know what he would do if her father suddenly come down the stairs, probably push her off him as quick as he could. She would probably go flying across the lounge in his panic.

He felt her tugging his shirt from his pants and her hand gloss over the bare skin between his pants and her shirt. Carol moaned into his mouth he never felt anything like it, sure he explored his own body but it was different with Carol touching him. He pulled her close to him. Carol was exploring his muscles on his stomach and up his side. Her fingers unbuttoned his shirt as she felt across his chest and shoulders. He liked it, her touch but he tried to keep in his mind where they were. It would be so easy to let her keep touching him. He was rock hard thinking about her hands on him and kissing her. He wished he was anywhere else in the world except on the couch of Carol's parents place.

'Carol... we gotta stop,' he whispered in her ear. He kissed her temple and tried to get her to roll off him. She wouldn't move but she buttoned his shirt then wrapped her arms around him as much as she could and turned her face so it was tucked into his neck. She kissed him there quickly and then pulled back. She kissed him slowly as he stroked up and down her back over her clothes again.

'Ok... ' she whispered, she had been surprised at herself almost throwing herself at him. She couldn't understand the reaction of her body to his. It was like she was being pulled into something that she had no control of. His body felt amazing under her hands, why did he have to turn out to be such a good looking  hottie with a sexy body. Why was she practically throwing herself at him, she couldn't stop touching him.  She knew she didn't want to be away from him again, she had to make him understand.

'I don''t want you to go away again,'

'I'm not... told you, I've got a job and we own our own home,' he whispered. He was talking quietly because he didn't want the others to know about it. As the night moved on to midnight Glenn and Rick left to go home not allowed to sleep over at Carol's. Daryl had already text Merle to let him know he was with Carol. The other two went upstairs to Carol's room to spend the night in the twin beds she had up there. Carol told them she would be up soon. Daryl said she could have his old room Molly had put new sheets on the bed.

When the other girls left them in the lounge Carol and Daryl turned off the tv and tried to sleep side by side on the couch. Daryl was hooked on Carol it was like he'd never been away, he couldn't get enough of her. He wanted to know everything about her now. He would do anything more than kissing he lost control of his hand for a moment as he made contact with her breast through her clothes. He stroked the skin between her jean's and shirt with his other hand and he surrendered his mouth to hers. They were kissing over and over, touching each other in ways they would never have dreamed of or knew they knew how to. Carol's hand went to the button of his jeans.

'Carol... yo do that we gonna be doing stuff that you and I might not be ready for...' Daryl whispered, his hands were on the buttons of her pants too. He had Merle's voice ringing through his head about her still being at high school and still seventeen. They were only four months apart in age and slowly but surely teenage hormones showed their heads and both Carol and Daryl lost control of themselves on her parents couch. He Pulled his wallet and phone out of his jeans pockets and handed her the wrapped foiled package he had. 'Your choice... yes or no,'

'I want to... but... I don't want to do it and then tomorrow you don't talk to me,' Carol whispered, 'I heard a girl did that to one of the girls in our class and he told everyone,' She'd heard about a it happening over and over again to a few of her friends except Michonne and Maggie who's boyfriends panted after them everywhere they went. She was sure that Rick and Michonne had sex under her parents kitchen table.

'I'm not going to tell anyone, I'm not at school,' Daryl whispered. 'We don't have too,'

Slowly but surely both of them fumbled through the motions of having sex for the first time. Daryl had some idea of what he was doing as did Carol but neither of them having done it before it had its moments when one or both of them had a little giggle because it was so awkward. Special but awkward. They both were surprised that they took that step so quickly with each other. It wasn't the best first time ever but it was sweet in a fumbly sort of way they both enjoyed it and were keen to try again. Daryl was going to try get Carol to come to her house to come over to his place where they could try again in his bed.

He held her for a long time after placing little kisses on her forehead. He helped her to the bathroom to clean up as she was sore from him. He felt bad that he hurt her. While she took a quick shower he rushed about to hide the evidence of what they did on the family couch. He didn't know if he could ever sit on it again with a straight face or look at Mike in the eye again after doing that with Carol on his couch. He went outside for a quick smoke while he waited for Carol to take her shower.

Carol come back down with her pj's on. She had two camping sleeping bags, bed rolls and pillows. They made themselves a bed on the floor. Carol zipped herself up in her bed and Daryl slept fully clothed on top of his with a blanket over top both of them lying facing each other. 'Do you want to go to prom Daryl?'

'Aw fuck... prom?' Daryl sighed. Now he was going to have to go to prom. Carol just giggled reached out with her hand to grab at his. 

'You are going to look mighty fine in a suit Daryl Dixon. I hope you can dance,' Carol teased him.

'Aw fuck!'

 


	11. Chapter 11

Carol woke up snuggled into Daryl's side. She could feel someone staring at her so she opened her eyes and could see her Dad standing above them staring at them with a frown on his face.  She quickly shut them again. Daryl was awake and she could tell he was foxing by the way he was breathing. Carol opened her eyes again looking at her father who was starting to look annoyed. She groaned and rolled back over onto her back.

'Carol.... ' he just said. 'I think we need to talk Daryl!' He wasn't fooled he knew Daryl was awake. Daryl kept his eyes closed pretending he didn't hear. Mike kicked his ankle. 'Dixon move...'

Daryl's blue eyes flashed open, he took a quick glance at Carol to reassure her he wouldn't be spilling any beans about anything that was happening. Carol wasn't worried he would tell. The last thing that Daryl was about to do would be to tell her father he slept with her last night. Daryl rolled over tossing off the blanket to show that he was not naked and was still fully dressed - therefor implying nothing happened apart from them both sleeping. He shuffled into his shoes. Daryl indicated he was going to use the bathroom first - if nothing else but to buy himself some time. Carol caught his eye and indicated his neck.

Daryl climbed the stairs to go into the main bathroom. One that he had used time and time again when he was staying here. He used the toilet and jumped up and down hoping he could handle the talk with Mike. While he was in  the bathroom he looked in the mirror and he had a big purple bruise on his neck. 

He opened the window to see how far it would be down to climb out. It probably would be worth the broken ankle. He paced the bathroom he pulled out a wash cloth and rubbed at his neck. Christ he was going to have to face her father with a huge bruise his daughter had put on his neck. He looked at the array of makeup on her counter top. He wondered for a minute if he could cover it. He picked up a tube of lipstick. He picked up tube by tube and found concealer, he dabbed a touch on his bruise. Then he started panicking that he been in the bathroom so long that they would think he was in there doing all sorts of things. He moved across and turned the shower on - then he went back and tried to cover his hickey.

Carol, Maggie and Michonne were all sitting at the breakfast table having a silent conversation about what happened last night. Carol wasn't meeting anyone's eyes and Molly was giving them a speech that they should respect themselves and that guys would buy the cow if they got the milk for free. 

Michonne rolled her eyes at Carol trying to tell her to tell her mom not to give them the sex talk. Carol's eyes were on the ceiling listening to Daryl pacing around up there. She heard the shower going and she could tell he wasn't in the shower. Her Dad was still waiting to give him the sex talk and Daryl knew he was waiting down stairs. Carol was just thankful he hadn't climbed out the window and done a runner. 

Upstairs Daryl was still panicking and he was hoping that he was going to be able to lie convincing he took a deep breath and opened the bathroom door. He quickly stepped back and turned the shower off. Everyone was going to know he wasn't in the shower. He hoped that he gave off an air of confidence. He walked into the kitchen and looked around. Carol kept her eyes on her toast she was leaving him out to dry - traitor. 

Mike slapped his hand on Daryl's shoulder and guided him out the back door. Carol bit her lip as her father escorted him out. She felt sorry for him, her dad had always been a mentor to him before they went away. Now he was going to give him the sex ed chat. Carol wanted to giggle about it because Daryl looked so nervous about everything.

Daryl dug around in his pocket looking for his pack of smokes and then thought better of it. He kicked a stone around and waiting for the sex talk to start. Mike didn't say anything for a few minutes and Daryl was getting nervous. Then he just blurted it out.

'I'm not going to hurt her... I've always loved her,' Daryl told him. 'I don't need a sex ed chat! I don't need a blow by blow, I respect her,'

'Daryl... I, Carol's my daughter and ...'

'Look Mike I don't feel comfortable talking about sex and your daughter in front of you,' Daryl told him. 'Its not respectful to Carol and I'm not going to talk about it with you. I'm not going to pressure her into anything or leave her somewhere ... because she isn't going to do something that I want her to do. I just want... a chance ... that's all and that's all you are getting from me right now. I'll look out for her and respect her, but I ain't talking about sex with you.' Daryl held his hand out to shake it. Mike looked at him for a long time and finally he held his hand out to shake his hand. He knew Daryl would look after his daughter.

'Do you um... have any questions about anything?' Mike asked Daryl. Daryl looked at him like he had gone completely crazy. He had no questions at all about sex except could he take his daughter over to his house to have more sex with her but he wasn't about to mention that. Daryl looked at the ground and then back up at her dad.

'She asked me to prom... what the fuck do I wear... and I can't dance,' he admitted.

Mike looked at Daryl like of all the questions he had to ask that he was asking about prom. Daryl walked around pulling out his smokes and lit up he looked across at Mike. 

'I mean... shit I ain't never thought I would go to a prom... and do I get a flower or something, all those cheesy movies the chicks have flowers and stuff and do I wear a tie... you gotta help me here. Merles going to laugh his arse off if I ask him questions about prom.' Daryl blurted out.

'I think I can help you with prom.' Mike was kinda relieved they all completely managed to avoid the sex stuff and going straight onto things that he could actually talk with Daryl about. 'We will have to get you sorted for a suit and a tie. Maybe a hair cut.' 

Daryl wrinkled his nose at the word hair cut. He had one a year and been shaving it all off and then just let it grow. He knew he would have to do something so he went presented for Carol. He nodded. He had no idea what to do, all his idea's about prom come from what he'd seen from chick flick movies he'd seen over the years as Merle dated different girls. The best ones were the horror high school prom ones when someone run about with a chain saw. He really had no idea what a prom was but it was important to Carol.

'We will have to get you up dancing, maybe you can come around after work and Molly and I can teach both you and Carol how to dance.' Mike suggested. Daryl just nodded, he would rather be going to the dentist having his teeth pulled than standing in her lounge learning to dance with her parents watching and telling him what to do. Carol better appreciate what he was prepared to do to date her.

Daryl followed Mike back into the house. The girls were giggling in the lounge when he come in. He didn't know what to do but he had to go home and sort out his room. Unpack his tools before he went to work tomorrow. They also needed to get some food in so they had something to eat. 

'I'm going to head out... I've got to stop and get some things at the shops,' he told Carol. She stood up and followed him outside. He pulled her hard against him and kissed her deeply. 'I've got to get some underwear and shit,' he mumbled as he threaded his fingers though her hair. 'Food and stuff like that or we will starve.'

'When will I see you?' Carol asked him.

'Today? What if I meet you back here about four?' Daryl asked her, 'But I can't stay over or late because I start work at seven.'

Carol nodded that she agreed with that. Carol still found it hard to get her head around the fact that he was working and not at school, and the fact he had been back less than twenty four hours and things between them were moving fast.

'Carol... if you want to ... if we gonna keep you know...' his face blushed, 'If you wanna get birth control or something I can pay for it, or you want me to get more condoms or something?'

Carol nodded, 'I don't know I never even thought about it. Will you take me?'

'Let me know and I'll get time off,' Daryl kissed her again, 'You don't got to if you don't wanna, I mean if you don't wanna do it again,'

'I want to... I liked it,' Carol told him, 'Can we go to your place this afternoon?' Daryl was dumbfounded that she was wanting to do that. He was wary of her father right now.  He gave her a kiss climb on his bike and pulled on his helmet.

'We will see, you don't want me to have Mikes foot in my arse!' Daryl turned the bike on and patted her arse, his hand drifted up to her hair. She gave him a warning look but he tugged it anyway with a cheeky grin and drove off down the drive.

 

 


	12. Chapter 12

'Don't fucken laugh.' Daryl was standing in his lounge with Merle and Merle was trying to show him how to dance. Daryl had come home in a panic that Carol's dad wanted to talk to him about sex and Carol wanted him to go to the prom. It all come tumbling out of his mouth even though he vowed never to tell Merle about it it was the first thing he said as soon as Merle said good morning.

Merle threw his head back and laughed when Daryl asked for help learning to dance. He'd been dragging Daryl  to bar's for the past year and never once had he gone on the dance floor mostly playing pool. Merle would dance only because he had a better chance of pulling the women on the dance floor than else where. Daryl liked music but he couldn't even nod his head in time to the music. He just had to find the beat and then he thought he should be ok to go. So for the past hour Merle had been trying to get Daryl to do a simple step side to side to the music. Daryl's scowling hadn't made it easy on Merle because he kept cracking up every time he looked at Daryl.

'Fuck Daryl... didn't you find the beat at primary school?' Merle growled. 'Step, step step, step. Step side to side.... come on... can't you hear that beat.... now and now and now and now.' Daryl kept tripping over his feet as he tried to get the beat. Merle was sure his younger brother was going to lose it soon and his temper was going to get the better of him because he couldn't do it. Daryl rarely lost his temper and was more patient than Merle but he was breaking into a sweat and they were only stepping side to side.

Merle trying to do it in time to the music counting it out to Daryl and Daryl kept missing the beat and Merle was getting frustrated.  Merle then told Daryl he didn't know what the beat was and now they were stepping side to side to a rock song trying to find the beat so he didn't look completely dumb with Carol at the dance. Merle was starting to make noises that maybe it wasn't too late for Carol to find another date.

'Daryl come on... a two year old could find the beat.'

Daryl was on the verge of walking out and Merle grabbed his arm. He held both his forearms and made Daryl step from side to side with him. His steps slowed so that Daryl could keep up and Merle did a slow dip to the beat. Daryl slowly picked it up and Merle gave him a bit of a grin.

'So... Prom, Carol must have done something to make you agree to dress up in a monkey suit.' Merle half teased him.

Daryl ducked his head and kept stepping and avoiding his gaze. Daryl just focused, step... feet together.... step.... feet together.

'Daryl... did Carol pop your cherry?' Merle teased him.

'I didn't have my cherry popped.' Daryl growled, 'You dumb fuck.'

'Well hope didn't didn't kiss Carol with that mouth of yours.' Merle kept his eyes on Daryl's face, Daryl was trying to not give anything away in the end he just nodded that he did kiss her.

'Well well well... Daryl's got a girl friend thought you would never be interested in a girl.' 

'Fuck off Merle of course I like them... just not anyone as much as her. Now I'm gonna shower and go pick her up and bring her back here so try not to be a wanker.' Daryl growled at him. He'd showered and changed. He was trying to do the speed dancing.

'Her Daddy know you are bringing her back here to deflower his princess?'

'Not going to deflower her...' Daryl growled. He let go of Merle and walked off to find the keys for the pick up.

'You deflower her last night Daryl?' Merle yelled after him.

'Fuck you Merle!' 

'Daryl's a man today....' Merle sang out, Merle stood there for one second before running out to the drive way to tease Daryl some more. 'Daryl look can I get that condom back... I've got a date and I'm out.'

Daryl narrowed his eyes wondering if he was walking into a trap. Merle usually was packing dozen's of condoms not wanting to ever become a father and Daryl knew he was lying. 'Get one out of the bathroom,' Daryl told him.

'But that was my special one... it was my cherry popping one.' Mere taunted him.

'Ya ain't getting it back.' Daryl started to say and Merle reached in grabbing Daryl's wallet off the dash and opening it before Daryl could try grab it back. Merle looked through it seeing the condom wasn't there.

'Well little brother looks like you have some explaining to do.' Merle taunted him.

'Fuck you Merle and don't say nothing to Carol when she comes over, she don't need to listen to your crap.' Daryl told him.

'I'll be a perfect gentleman, I'll even show her how well I can dance and she might want to take me to the prom instead of you.' Merle suggested handing his wallet back. 'Seriously if you are tapping that arse, wrap ya dick you don't want to be no teenage dad right,' Merle delivered the sex talk. 'You wanna know anything you ask me I'll get you a book with pictures and everything.'

'Yeah I know all about your dirty books, I wrapped it ok,' Daryl face was red.

'I'ma gonna put condoms in the bathroom you just make sure you use them.' Merle growled. It was all new to him, although Daryl wasn't his kid he almost wanted to make sure he knew what the heck he was doing and not make a mistake. 'You do know how to put it on don't you?'

'Course I fucken do... what the fuck do you think I was doing at home at night when you were at the bar. I practiced a few times alright... keep that to yourself.' Daryl looked shocked that he admitted that. Merle just nodded his head, he didn't think he'd gone through that many condoms. Daryl must have been practicing putting them on for years. He waved him off and decided to get on his bike to go pick up a few little supplies for his darling brother. He walked through the house with a sly grin on his face to grab his wallet and helmet.

 

 


	13. Chapter 13

Merle pulled up the drive after he'd been out to the drug store. He climbed off his bike and looked about. He looked across the road to a blonde getting out of her car. She pulled in the same time as Merle did he followed her down the street on his bike and took a glance as she stepped out of her car. She was a looker and he thought about heading over to ask for a cup of sugar or something sweet, maybe her. He stood admiring her arse as she bent back into her car. He bent over himself grabbing the bag he got from the sex store for Daryl he was going to embarrass the shit out of his brother putting this out for him to find in the bathroom

A guy who appeared to have come out of no where now appeared to be having an argument with her. He felt sad seeing that she had a boyfriend. He pulled his helmet off his head and rested it on the seat of his bike. He took another look across to see what was going on he could hear voices being raised and he saw the man shove the women into the side of the car, her bag hit the ground. He never noticed the man getting out of the car he seemed to come from no where. Merle hated stuff like that and for a moment he tried to tell himself to walk away but he heard her cry out. Merle turned and saw her holding her face. 

Merle was heading across the road telling himself to butt out he had his fist clenched. The guy had clearly slapped the blonde.

'Whats going on.' Merle walked right up into the blonde women's space, he put his hand on her chin gently and lifted her face to check the damage. 'You think its ok to hit a women? You wanna have a go at a real man?' he asked, he put the blonde behind him and squared off against the boyfriend.

'None of your business,' the man growled at him.

'He's my ex... he's not supposed to be here, I've a order on him,' she blurted she grabbed the back of Merle's jacket which gave him the indication that she didn't want him to leave her alone with this man. Merle took the hint and decided to get the women out of there fast. 

'Come on darling come with me while we call the cops.' Merle offered her to come with him, he pointed across the road. The women looked from the man standing there with the fist clenched and Merle Dixon who looked as rough as they could be. She followed Merle thinking he couldn't possibly be as bad as the man she was walking away from. She felt sick when she got out of her car and her ex pushed her up against the car in the threatening way she didn't know what to do. He'd grabbed her keys so she couldn't even get back into her car. She couldn't believe her eye's when a solidly built man from across the road stuck he neck out for her.

He grabbed her by the elbow, snatched her purse up from the ground and helped her across the road. He kept half an eye on the man standing in her drive. He was going to call the cops if she had a restraining order. 

'Merle.... Merle Dixon,' he told her introducing himself and taking his keys out to open his front door, he glanced down at the bag he was carrying and suddenly his joke on Daryl didn't seem so funny now he had a nice looking blonde following him into the house. He kept a tight grip on it and hoped he didn't drop it or something.  She followed him into the house and looked around. He tried to discreetly put his bag into the cupboard and she was talking to him about the house and he missed his mark - everything tumbled to the floor.

'I thought this place would be trashed. Did your Dad own it?' She asked him, she glanced down at the floor and raised her eyes up to meet his. For the first time in years Merle blushed. She chose to ignore the boxes and cock rings Merle brought as a joke to put in Daryl's top draw and she appeared to be standing leaning against the wall waiting for Merle to answer her question.

'He's dead. Me and my brother own it now.' Merle told her, 'You got a name sugar?'

'Andrea... Andrea Harrison...'

'Beer? Andrea Harrison with the dead beat ex.' He asked her. 'Phone's over there call the cops and report him, next time I might not be around to stop it.'

Andrea made the call while Merle made a coffee. He heard the old pick up truck coming up the drive and the voices of Daryl and Carol coming towards the door, they were whispering and talking. They stopped coming in Merle could only assume they were making out against the front door judging by the shadow being cast underneath it.

'My brother and his girl.'

'I thought you just got back yesterday.' Andrea questioned him.

'What are you? A lawyer? He's had a thing for her since he was this high.' Merle put his hand to his knee. 'No one else for this boy but her.' Merle leaned back against the bench looking Andrea up an down. She was smoking hot and he was trying to figure out what she had been doing dating someone like captain dick head who slammed her up against the car and slapped her face. He opened the freezer and pulled out a bag of frozen pea's wrapped it in a tea towel. He handed it to her and indicated to put it on her face to keep the swelling down.

'Yeah I am... and you? You been dating someone since you were that high?' She accepted the tea towel and pea's to put against her cheek. Tear's were threatening her eyes and Merle didn't know what he was going to do if she cried. He didn't do crying chicks or girls who kept going back to abusive partners. 

'Once I did... I don't do that shit on more. Single and alone is the way I want to be.' Merle told her. 'You're not going back to that prick are you?'

'No...' She raised her eyes to his, 'I broke up with him three years ago and he ... he follows me around still... ' Andrea told him. 'I only went out with him for about six weeks and things went bad fast. Really fast. He nearly killed me.' She didn't know why she was telling him all this. 

'That bad?' Merle asked, she nodded. She looked at all the condoms on the floor.

'So no girlfriend... no girls or guys?' He shook his head at both boys and girls. 'Right that's why you brought all the _stuff._ ' Andrea looked at the ground again trying to get the topic off her and onto him. He was still leaning on the bench trying to work her out and find out what was going on with her.

Daryl and Carol burst through the door holding hands. They stopped in their tracks seeing Andrea standing there in the kitchen talking with Merle and a huge pile of condoms at their feet. Andrea bent down and handed a box to Carol.

'Carol,' Merle stepped forward and gave her a hug, Carol smiled at him and gave Andrea a wave, she had no idea who she was or if she was Merles girlfriend or what was going on the whole atmosphere was tense in the kitchen.

'Its a present from Merle.' She told the teen.

'She's joking!' Daryl hissed, he almost batted it out of her hand and it went flying in Merle's direction. Merle stuck his hand out and caught the box. Daryl was glaring at Merle.

'Why do you have to be such a dick all the time.' Daryl hissed at Merle. Carol bent over picking up one of the boxes of condoms and a box of cock rings. Her face was burning bright red. There was a knock at the door and they all turned around seeing two cops standing there a women and a male cop. Both Carol and Merle were standing with condoms in their hands. Carol hid her box behind her back. Merle tossed his on the table and invited them in to talk with Andrea.

Daryl took Carol through to the lounge and they sat talking quietly in front of the tv. Talking led to kissing and Daryl was aware that there was his brother and a cop and a strange women giving statements at the kitchen table.

'This is the last straw Andrea. You know its not safe for you to go home tonight so maybe... do you have somewhere to go that's safe?' The female officer asked Andrea. She shook her head.

'She can stay here... I can sleep on the couch,' Merle offered.

'I can't put you out.' Andrea stated.

'Well you either sleep here or I sleep there so all my shit is here and he's got the keys to your place and we don't know where the fuck he is.' Merle told her. 

'I don't even know you.' Andrea said.

'Well Andrea the only other option right now is riding a bench at the police station until we find him.' The male cop told her, 'Remember what happened last time.' 

'I remember... I'll stay here.' she whispered. They told Merle to ring if her ex showed up anywhere near her. Merle saw them out. He stretched on his way back into the kitchen when he saw Andrea glancing up at him when he come into the room she looked worried.

'Look you don't need to be scared of me. I don't hit women or make them do nothing they don't want to do. Ask that boy in there, I've been raising him since he was four.' Merle told her. 'So I'm just going to go about cooking some dinner and you can sit there looking pretty. There's beer in the fridge and if you want wine I can run out get some.' Andrea stood up and opened the fridge pulling out two bottles of beer. She opened one for him and one for her. Then she sat down and watched the man who was her rescuer preparing steaks for dinner. Merle Dixon was certainly nice to look at it was going to be an interesting evening. Usually she pulled labels off her beers and tonight she opened a cock ring that she got out of the box and a condom and tried to figure out how they worked. Merle turned around as she put it over the neck of her bottle and watched it vibrate against the side of the glass. It was going to be a long night. 

 

 

 

 


	14. Chapter 14

Merle looked at Andrea over the top of his beer bottle. There had been mild flirting across the dinner table between Merle and Andrea. She been looking at him over the top of her beer bottle for the hundredth time. Both of them were checking each other out. Andrea was interested as was Merle but for now they were also entertaining two horny teenagers that they both were trying to keep at the dining room table 

Merle had no doubts that Daryl was going to try get Carol naked in his bedroom and he was hoping he could delay them long enough that they didn't have time to do anything else but some kissing. He was having trouble adjusting to the fact that Daryl was trying to spread his wings. He did think that the two of them were good together. Carol and Daryl had been in each other pockets as children and now as nearly adults they had picked up where they left off. The only problem was for Merle was that they appeared not to be able to keep their hands off each other.

They had had dinner and Daryl had taken Carol off to his room. Merle called after him to keep the bedroom door open because he was too young to become a uncle. Daryl had told him to fuck off more than once. Carol's face flamed as Daryl took her hand and pulled her behind him into his bedroom. Daryl slammed the door really loudly so Merle had no doubt that he had shut the door and Merle shouldn't come down there. 

'So... do you think you should go down there?' Andrea asked him.

'No... Daryl's wet behind the ears... sides he's gotta get the girl home within the next half an hour.' Merle glanced at the clock, he run his hand across his face and then glanced at the clock again. 'Fuck...' Merle got up and paced around the lounge. He thought he would be ok with Daryl having a sexual relationship but he still thought he was a bit young to be getting into a sexual relationship.

'He's your brother?' Andrea asked him, Merle nodded affirmative. 'But... ' Andrea waggled her finger between Merle and the closed bedroom door down the hall, 'He's kinda like your son too?'

'He's ... I... he's like my kid alright, I raised him myself, when I was ten I was changing his diapers and giving him his bottle. When he was four I took him to kindergarten class.' Merle run his hand over his face again. 'You wouldn't understand.' She looked too upmarket for her to get what it would even have been like for him and Daryl. He didn't know why she followed him across the road when he could have been worse than the guy she was with or a axe murder or something crazy. He could be a pimp she didn't know what sort of man he was at all when she followed him yet now she was coming out with all the things that he actually was. He was in all intensive purposes Daryl's father, brother and now friend all rolled into one. 

'I think I do. I've lived across the road for a while, I knew your father and heard the stories that you used to look after Daryl and run off with him when he got out of jail. You are a protector, you protected Daryl all his life and today... you protected me. So don't give me this crap that you are not something special.' Andrea said. 'That's how I knew I could trust you... to come with you today. You have this... tough guy thing down but I know... you aren't.' She looked him dead in the eye. Really looked at him. Merle crossed his arms across his chest scared that she could see his soul or something. She was looking at him like no one had ever looked at him. He was flustered for the first time in a long time he wasn't sure what she really wanted from him. 

'You heard rumors about me? You must have one boring job if they talked about me'

'Not really, just that you used to come home at nineteen and you would be looking after your brother. Went to parent teacher meetings. All sorts of things I know.' Andrea told him. 'I'm a teacher at his old school they still talk about Merle Dixon who looked after his brother all the time and fronted up to all the parent days and interviews. The fourteen year old who was raising the four year old. Yeah I know exactly what sort of man you are... your a good man even though you try and hide it.'

'You heard all that?' Merle looked surprised that they talked about him, he was almost embarrassed and he took a pull on his drink looking over his beer bottle at her, he could tell she was interested. He was interested but he had only been in town one night and he didn't like the idea of banging a chick who lived across the road. He hadn't had a serious relationship since he was twenty. His dick was having other idea without having an outing in a long time because he'd been busy with work and other things that he barely looked at a chick in months. 

'Probably because its a moving story, you might not think what you did was special but it was... from what I heard Daryl was a bit of a rat bag.' Andrea gave him a smile. 'And you are worried about him, and her and what they are doing, you are conflicted because... he's now becoming a man, and you don't want him to make any mistakes.' Andrea took a drink of her own drink then she looked at him. 'Merle Dixon you know you are the type of guy a girl would want to marry and settle down and have a family with... you are the whole package... father material and ... sexy as hell.'

'I'm not nothing special.' Merle choked out, he spluttered on his beer and high tailed it down the hall to try stop the conversation Andrea was having with him and banged on Daryl's bedroom door. His breathing was going fast because Andrea hit every part of him that he tried to keep hidden under his tough guy exterior. He needed to get Andrea out of the house quick smart. He wondered if he could make Carol take Andrea with her to her house. 'Time for you to get that girl home, I don't want her old man showing up here looking for her.'

Andrea took another sip of her drink. She had heard about Merle Dixon all right. Over the years she's had heard tidbits from her fellow teachers and she always wanted to meet him. She didn't expect to see the sexy man in front of her. She couldn't believe her eyes when he come across to help her tonight. She was thankful that he invited her to stay over. She also had plans for him and he looked like he was a man of action, looking at him she wondered if she would have to do much to convince She watched as Carol shuffled out of Daryl's bedroom. They both looked annoyed with Merle like he was interrupting them. Something told her that Merle was not going to be letting Daryl bring his high school girlfriend over and banging her in the bedroom while he was home. 

Carol's face was flushed and Daryl frowned at Merle as he passed. 'You're not that funny.' he growled.

'Take your girl home.' Merle told him. 'Invite her old's over for dinner tomorrow.'

'Fine... night Andrea.' Daryl took Carol out to the truck and they heard it going off down the drive and street.

'So do you wanna watch a movie?' Merle asked her.

'I think I wanna have a shower and go to bed.' Andrea told him, she picked up a couple of condoms off the floor and a vibrating cock ring. Merle was standing by the sink leaning back and watching her. Andrea wasn't being subtle as she picked them up. She did it so he could see her doing it. His dick twitched in anticipation of what was going to happen next. Was she going to grab and drag him down the hall or try be coy about what she clearly wanted based on taking condoms with her. She started heading off down the hall. He took another sip of his beer and waited.

'You coming?' Andrea tossed the invitation out.

'Yes mam!' Merle called out to her retreating back. He tipped the rest of his beer down his throat. Locked the door and headed off down the hall stopping to grab some towels on his way to the bathroom.

 

 

 


	15. Chapter 15

Wednesday rolled around and Daryl was chasing his tail. It was hard keeping everything up. Carol wanted to spend time with him but he wanted to crawl into bed and sleep. He didn't even want dinner. He told her he was tired and he would see her tomorrow. He heard the disappointment in her voice but he knew that they couldn't see each other every night. He had work and the last three late nights had done him in.

Andrea who was now apparently Merle's live in girlfriend because they hadn't found her freaky ex boyfriend had been trying to teach him how to dance every night. She taught him simple steps and helped him find the beat.  She was a better dancer than Merle and seemed to have an easy way of teaching and not mocking him like Merle was doing from the couch. She sent Merle off to take a shower while she helped him. Tomorrow she was going to take him shopping to hire a suit to wear for the weekend in her lunch break.

Daryl was only freaking out slightly about the whole weekend wanting not to let Carol down. He wanted her to be proud of him. He didn't want to let her down but also he didn't want to take the chance that someone else would ask her to dance because he didn't know how too.

At the moment the only thing that was keeping him calm was that Carol kept texting him telling him over and over that she didn't care if he could dance or not because she never ever in her wildest imagination thought he would be the one to take her to prom. She had always hoped he would be the one to take her but he had been away when prom dates first started coming her way she kept declining them because she always dreamed he would be the one to take her. Then he just arrived back on the Harley and she had to ask him. She kept telling him every day how glad she was that he was back and she couldn't wait to see him again even if he'd just left her house an hour before.

It was ok for Carol because she was still at school she could do whatever she liked because it wasn't as taxing as working forty plus hours a week. Daryl needed to finish off his apprenticeship first and foremost. Carol understood that but she wanted to spend time with him because he'd just come back into town. He also had no idea about what he was supposed to do with a girlfriend apart from the one thing he wanted to do again.

He drove over to her house every night after work spending a short period of time them. He'd been rolling in around dinner time and eating with her parents and Carol then they spent some time sitting out on the back door steps talking and kissing. Daryl really enjoyed kissing her. Then he would wave off telling her he had to get home to get ready for the next day. He still had things to do like washing his clothes, and he didn't tell her that he was learning to dance for her.

Now he was wandering around his house in boxers and a tee shirt, having taken a shower and now he was on the phone to Carol. Merle and Andrea were out doing something he didn't even bother to ask. He was listening to Carol talking about something that happened at school. He was feeding himself food straight from the fridge even though he'd eaten at Carol's he was always hungry at the moment.

He listened as she started talking about Prom and that she'd got them tickets. He'd given her some money the day before to pay for them and then he nearly missed the next thing she was talking about, he coughed and was slightly embarrassed and then he started paying attention when she told him she'd made an appointment about birth control at the clinic a few town's over on Saturday morning at ten. Could he please take her.

"I can take ya." He told her quietly over the phone. "I've got Saturday off."

They been talking about their relationship and their future together. She was going to college, he was thankful for now that she'd already chosen her courses and college the next town over giving her the option to live at home and to commute to college daily. He was glad he didn't have to worry about him moving back into town having any sort of impact on her choices for her future. She also had a part time job working at a cafe at weekends. It wasn't a lot of money but it would pay for books and petrol. He knew her parents would help her out. He already told her she could put her gas on his account at the garage he was working at when she went to college. She did decline but he was going to convince her to do it or he'd just take her car once a week and fill it up for her if she didn't let him.

"Can I ask you something?" Daryl asked her.

"Anything."

"Andrea said I needed to ask you what colour your dress is." 

"My dress? My dress is silver... why?" Carol asked him.

"Uh she said not to say." Daryl told her, Andrea told him to subtly find out what colour dress she was wearing to get her a flower to wear. Daryl wasn't that subtle so he just asked her outright. Carol wasn't stupid she knew why he asked and she was happy he asked. "Something white Daryl. Nothing fancy, hell I don't care if you pick me some wild flowers."

"How did you know?"

"Rick was asking Mitch the same questions at lunch so when you asked me about my dress I knew it was because you wanted to buy me a wrist band." Carol dropped the major hint that she wanted to wear it on her wrist and not pinned to her dress. He took the hint.

"Um do you know what you want? Can you just tell me so I don't fuck it up?" Daryl was worried now, he had wrist band jotted down and the word white with a circle around it. He wrote down silver dress.

"No you can choose, and just in case you are wondering... I don't have a time that I have to be home so I thought I would tell mom I'm spending the night with Michonne and ..." Carol let the silence do her talking.

"Yeah I don't know... Merle's not going to let you stay here until you finish high school." Daryl told her.

"What? Why?"

"I don't know... he told me last night he's not hosting high school girl sleep overs... but you only have a few months left then you will be eighteen and left." Daryl mumbled into the phone. He and Merle had argued about it and Merle told him that he would ring Carol's parents if he attempted to have Carol sleep over. Daryl had to give in about it. He knew that he and Carol had plenty of time to sleep over together and her finishing high school and him finishing his apprenticeship. last Friday night wasn't a mistake but they had time to re connect with each other before moving it to the next level where they were able to move more freely in their lives without Carol being at high school and Daryl doing his last six months.

"Ok... I'm kinda ok with that... I mean I want to keep doing it but we can take it slower. Take it as it comes. As long as you know you're my person." Carol told him, he had a huge grin on his face and told her he knew, he wished her goodnight and told her he would take her out for a hamburger or something tomorrow night. He'd pick her up at six thirty tomorrow. 

 

 


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ok this is a monster chapter for me.

 

He'd been embarrassed about all of it and stayed with Carol the whole way through everything. He didn't go in for her exam because he was getting one of his own. He didn't realize that they were going to check his junk, he just gave Carol a shake of his head when she asked him how he was after it. He wanted the ground to open up and swallow him whole. He sat with her while they spoke with the doctor about birth control and spoke quickly with each other in low whispers when they were given options. Daryl just told her what ever she wanted but at the age they were she wanted to finish college before she had to worry about becoming pregnant even though Daryl made more than enough money to support a family.

They whole process took an hour and they come our with a script for condoms and Carol was rubbing her left bum cheek. He pulled her into a gentle kiss and told her he was sorry.

"Why?"

"Because you had to get a injection, not because it means we are more protected... are you ok with it all?" He asked her, she nodded that she was more than fine. Especially if it meant they could be together and they were going to be safe. Daryl was so sweet, he just had no idea how sweet he was sometimes. Michonne had told her that when Rick took her to sort out birth control he sat outside in the car waiting for her, and she had to pay for it all. Daryl come inside, held her hand through her discussion with the doctor and while she had an injection and subjected himself to an examination himself then paid for it all for them both. Carol had offered to go half and he just frowned at her and shook his head, and gave her the stern "No.".

He took her out for lunch picking up take out they went back to his place where Merle was not home because he was still at work and Andrea was out with Carol's mom getting last minute things for prom. They ate in his bedroom, then they spent a few hours exploring each other's bodies. Taking the time to explore, sure they had looked when they were little but the last time he'd seen her naked was when they had to get dressed in the back of her folks car when they were around eight. Now they were all grown up and they were keen to take the time to touch and kiss each other, then Daryl was keen to use one of the twelve dozen condoms that they had in his top drawer. 

They had lay together naked for a long time after and he was almost falling asleep with her in his arms. He was stroking up and down her back and kissing her gently. Carol was feeling happy, loved and enjoying this whole new adult relationship. It was a big shock for them both to have such an quick sexual relationship so fast.

"You happy?" She asked him.

"Very happy..."

"Not just because you got laid." Carol leaned in to kiss his chest, "But with the way things are?"

"Yes of course I'm happy because you always been my girl." Daryl told her, "I always just wanted to play with ya... that's why I pulled your hair that day... cos I wanted to play with the pretty girl in the pretty dress with knee high white socks." He managed to get his hands into her hair, "And I kinda like pulling your hair." They lay there for a while longer before Daryl dropped her home so she could get ready for him to pick her up for the prom. He walked her to the door, kissed her quickly and headed off to go home take a nap and get ready for the prom.

Four hours later he was standing outside Carol's front door, Daryl pulled at the tie around his neck a he shuffled from foot to foot as he knocked. He'd agreed to go to prom and now the time arrived he was shitting bricks about going. He sniffed himself hoping that he wasn't smelling. Andrea had plied him with all sorts of new things to wear deodorant wise. Andrea even caught up with Molly and made sure he had a matching cummerbund so he matched Carol. He was done up like a fairy on a Christmas tree according to Merle and Andrea told him not to mock Daryl because it was a big deal the high school prom. Just because he wasn't at high school didn't mean he couldn't enjoy the experience.

Merle shut his mouth quickly because Andrea had told him, and that alone was the only reason. He was sweet on Andrea and he wasn't willing to get into her bad books for making fun of Daryl over the prom. So instead he handed him a condom. Daryl glanced down at it and told him he didn't need it. He left Merle frowning wondering why he didn't take it. Daryl didn't find the need to tell him that at the clinic that morning he sat embarrassed holding Carol's hand as they spoke the the doctor there. Then they walked away with twelve dozen boxes of condoms and Carol had had a injection. Let Merle wonder. Merle was the one who said he couldn't sleep with Carol at their home so he shouldn't be giving him rubbers.

 He used it all - everything Andrea handed him from the other side of the bathroom door. He was starting to sweat while he waited for someone to come to the door. No one was coming and he opened the door and pushed it wide open and called out that he was there. He didn't know if he was supposed to just walk in or not.

He wasn't good at this. Andrea told him to knock on the door and wait now he'd blown the first rule she gave him. Now he was standing in the hall having entered the house from a way he never normally did. He did a wee panic and backed out of the hall shutting the door behind him and walking around to the drive side of the house and going to the door he always come to and knocked. Then waited until someone come to the door. 

Carol flung the door open, she was standing there in a silver dress staring at him. She smile and launched herself at him wrapping her arms around him. She kissed him full on the mouth. He was mindful of where he put his hands seeing her parents come into the kitchen.

"Hi," Carol smiled sweetly at him as she stepped back to look at him. Daryl stood there staring at her. Her dress had a cross over bit at the front which crossed over her breasts but leaving a gap of skin from just above her belly button in a triangle pattern. Her dress had no back on it from what he could feel. He held her out and made her turn around so he could get a really good look at her. 

"Wow... you look... wow." Daryl didn't know what else to say and he just shoved the flower Andrea made him buy for her. Carol smiled. Her makeup was flawless. Daryl could only imagine he had the most beautiful girl in the world to take to the prom. "How many guys am I going to have to beat up tonight for looking at you?"

"Stop Daryl, but thankyou." Carol moved in for another kiss.

"Right you too come and take photo's, lots of photos." Mike called them into the living room to take what felt like hundreds of photos. Daryl tried to smile until his cheeks hurt because he knew that it was important for them to have a nice photo of both of them dressed to the nines. Then it was time to go to the prom. 

"So where's our ride?" Carol looked at Daryl.

"It's outside" He told her. He was non committal at the moment because he didn't know if he was going to be able to pull it off or not. He'd wheeled and dealed with his boss and his bosses friend to come up with the most interesting ride to the prom. He was standing beside Carol looking at his phone and his hand began to drift up her bare back towards her hair.

"Don't!" She growled at him.

"Don't what?" He looked up from his phone.

"Mess my hair up." She whispered.

He looked at her and his hand was at the base of her neck beginning to thread into her up style of a hair do. He tried to unlink his fingers but they were caught up and he ended up tugging her hair. "Sorry," he mumbled as he managed to pull his fingers lose.

"Why do you keep doing that?" She asked him.

"I don't know, I like it, its comforting I guess." He couldn't help it but give it a tiny tug, not hard but playful. 

"You know I'm going to hurt your the next time you do that don't you." She leaned over to give him a kiss on his cheek. "We have to go now mom."

"Have you got your bag?" Molly asked her, Carol had lied and told them she was staying at Michonne's. Her parents knew she was lying but they didn't want to know what she was doing with Daryl at his house. They didn't agree with it, but they knew that they also were old enough to make their own choices. She was leaving high school in three weeks and turning eighteen in a fortnight. They could see Daryl did love her he always had and probably always would. They knew in three weeks she would probably just tell them she was sleeping over there but for the last three weeks of school there was an unwritten rule that they didn't talk about.

"You know I'm staying with Daryl right mom." Carol whispered in her mom's ear.

"Michonne's that's what I heard." Molly said to her, Carol nodded and they walked them out to the car. 

"Oh my god!" Mike gasped seeing the car.

"I know right its a A 1923 Ford T Bucket in the traditional style with lake headers... its got dog dish hubcaps,  and a dropped "I" beam axle... narrow rubber wheels, and single 4-barrel, but non-traditional disc brakes." Daryl was excited as he showed the car off. "I bet you never seen a 'Hot Rod' like this Mike!"

Carol stared at the car wondering if Daryl had lost his mind. He couldn't have just hired a limo. The engine was exposed and she could tell there was a new paint job and her night would be ruined once all the other guys at the prom got a look at that car. They would all be in the car park talking about guy stuff. Daryl started it up and her dad climbed in and before she knew what was happening Daryl was taking her dad for a spin around the block in the car.

"Mom..." Carol complained to her mom.

"Just smile Carol... at least he brought a car... my date for the prom made his mom drive us."

Carol stood tapping her foot waiting for her dad to come back with her date.

 

 

 


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> That's all folks. More fic's coming your way. Thanks for reading and leaving the comments the comments make my day.

Twenty seven year old Daryl was walking around his kitchen eating toast while supervising a toddler Pippa in a high chair eating pea's that he tipped all over the tray for her to eat. She was crying when he arrived home because she was hungry or tired or didn't like the new baby, Daryl couldn't quite work out what all the yelling was actually about. Carol had given her some food and milk in her sipper cup not long before it all started. He could see the plate of food on the kitchen bench. She had not wanted any of it and the moment Carol had sat down to feed the baby the toddler had started screaming and gone into full meltdown lying on the floor kicking and screaming. 

The pea's now were giving her entertainment and the much needed relief on her gum's that appeared to be swollen and when Daryl looked in he was sure he could see the tips of teeth peeking through on one side. Red cheeks and the tears from his usually sunny smiling toddler was letting him know something wasn't right. Now she was all smiles chasing with her little fingers the frozen peas' that were rolling around the high chair tray. It was a trick he'd learnt with their oldest girl who he'd just picked up from kindergarten. 

He walked in the door with his oldest and could see full ciaos going on. A screaming toddler, a sobbing Carol and a crying baby in Carol's arms. He didn't know who to comfort first. He picked the little girl up off the ground. Dumped her in her high chair, wiped her face with a baby wipe and opened the freezer pulled out a bag of frozen pea's and tipped a shit load of them on her high chair tray. He washed his hands and chucked off his work shirt and filled a milk sipper cup up and put it on the try. 

He sent his oldest off to the toilet, when she come back he then put out a bowl of pea's for her and a glass of milk. He would move onto something better once he got all the noise under control. He moved onto Carol and rubbed her back. He felt like shit. It had been like this every day he dropped off Milly after kindergarten that he told Merle he was knocking off at three every day for the next wee while. He'd taken two weeks off work to help but had to go back to work. He was taking Milly to kindergarten but it also meant that Carol was home alone with a new born and a busy fourteen month old. 

"Why don't you go take a nap for a hour or so then you will feel better." He talked in gentle tones knowing that Carol could take it either way, he didn't want her to think he thought she wasn't doing a good job. Carol switched sides and kept feeding the baby at the same time leaning into him. He kissed her temple, "I love you... and the girls, we are going to be ok."

"You think, she was crying and crying... I feeding Charlotte and I couldn't do anything about it."

"Not going to hurt her, she can walk and climb up if she wants to sit on your knee if you want to. She just a bit jealous of the baby, remember Millie when Pippa was born?"

"She put her out on the porch." Carol actually cracked a smile through the tears. She finished feeding Charlotte and passed her over to a now shirtless Daryl. He held them both in his arms for a few minutes, cuddling his worn out tired wife and his new baby daughter. He stroked her hair and gave her hair a little tug and smiled at her when he did it. She just shook her head at him because he still did it. He loved to give her hair a tug most days still. He headed to the kitchen and handed Carol a bottle of water from the fridge and a sandwich that he'd left in there for her for lunch that she hadn't eaten. He told her to eat that before she napped. 

He had a three week old baby Charlotte tucked into the crock of his arm while he ate his own afternoon tea. Carol hopefully was sound asleep in bed by now. They didn't mean to have the last two babies so quickly, Carol blamed Daryl for having a few beers with Merle and getting frisky with her when he come home from across the road and practiced some moves that he hadn't tried in years. The problem was because she not long had Milly that she hadn't thought much about sorting out birth control because they hadn't been having sex because they were exhausted with a baby and a two year old. Running the business and Daryl had been doing a business management class at night school. They also blamed Merle for Charlotte's appearance. 

Merle had told them that he had none of the fun so he wasn't going to be taking the blame for this one. They wouldn't trade Milly, Pippa or little Charlotte for anything. Carol knew she had hormones all over the place and she was already making noises about having permanent birth control so they didn't have any more surprises join their family. They didn't know if they were done yet or not. Carol had told Daryl that at Charlotte next check up they needed to ask about it. Daryl had never missed a check up for any of the babies or a doctors appointment. He'd declared when they decided having children that none of his babies were going to have to be worried like he was at a child and be dragged up by a sibling. 

Merle did a stella job raising Daryl, Daryl wouldn't have been the man he was if it hadn't been for his brother. Merle gave up a great deal of his own teenaged years to raise Daryl, no teen should have to do that. Daryl and Merle had a bond that no one else ever would understand. It wasn't a brother to brother and it wasn't father and son. Daryl always looked to Merle for guidance almost on a day to day  basis. Merle loved Daryl and Daryl loved Merle and it was just that simple. 

Daryl was trying to get a frozen meal out of the freezer that Molly had dropped off yesterday for them for dinner, he put it into the microwave to defrost for a while. He was moving about with his new born in his arm loading the dishwasher. He was a hands on dad and wanted to show his girls that men could do stuff in the house. He wanted them growing up confident too that they could speak to him about everything. He poured himself a glass of juice and sat down at the table he was trying to listen to his four year old tell him about her day in her kindergarten class. They had three adorable girls who Daryl and Carol loved with all their heart. They waited until they were twenty and were married in a low key wedding. Carol had all but moved in with Daryl the week after she finished high school. 

Mike and Molly didn't mind that they were living together because Daryl wasn't standing in her way to go to college and together they were an adorable couple who at a young age they owned one of the busiest garages in town and between Merle and Daryl the business was thriving. Carol worked with the men behind the scenes and Merle did marry Andrea. Life was going pretty great for Daryl until he heard those few words fall from his daughters lips.

"He pushed me over and pulled my hair... and I'm going to get him tomorrow." She told him.

Daryl peeled a banana and handed it to his little girl, he was frowning about what she was saying about the little boy in her class. Someone had touched his baby and hurt her, he was going to go down to the school tomorrow and put the fear of god up that little boy. 


End file.
